In woods of God-realization vol.8

government of INDIA

DEPARTMENT OF ARCHAEOLOGY

CENTRAL ARCHAEOLOGICAL

I n Wood'S of

GOD • REALIZATION

OR

The Complete Works of Swami RAMA TIRTHA

fe

VOLUME yill '

FOREST TALKS

5353

SeveHth Edition

Copies ms ii 1951 ( Price Rs, 2/4/-

iNS MANOHARLAL

a HINDI BOOK SELLCM
NAI SAR/kK, D E L H !•«.

PUBLISHED BY

The Rama Tirtha Pratisthan
(The Rama Tirtha Publication League)
LUCKNOW (INDIA)

CENTH lAEC .00\CAh

l.iliKAi-iV, iNh.W

Aco. No...

...

PRINTED BY

Vedanta Printing Press,
25 Marwari Gali

LUCKNOW

i <ii!J < *'■' ^/ 'V'

o

PREFACE

'*- »

The Readers of "‘In Woods of God-Reali-
zalion’ are awar6 of the fact that the works of
Swami Rama'Tiftha published' originally in
four volumes'.were later 6n brought out in
eight volumes in 1930; •

Lately a suggestion was placed before the
managetrtent that the^ volumes should be of
uniform siie as far as possible and some of
the lectures should be put under the appro¬
priate titles which each volume suggested. Some
matter which was not already published in
these volumes had also to be brought Out.

The. Rama Tirtha Pratishthan, therefore^
^evolved a scheme early in 1947 to publish the
complete works of Swami Rama Tritha ' In
Woods of God-Realization*, in 12 volumes as
follows: -

(1) The Pole Star Within

(2) The Fountain of Power

(3) Aids to Realization

(4) Cosmic Consciousness and How to
Realize it.

11

(5) The Spirit of Realization

(6) Sight seeing from the hill of Vedanta

(7) India—the motherland

(8) Forest talks *

(9) lyi^theipatics and Vedanta.

(10) Snapshots

(11) precious gems.

(12) Musings of the Poet Monk.

Npw this volume is published under the
new scheme while other volumes are in the
course of publication lilcewise. How the
lectures have been redistributed would be mani¬
fest from a peipsaj of the full sc)ieme.

I.hope.the Messed readers will appreciate
our efforts in thi^ direction.

RA'MESHWAR SAHAT SINHA

M. L. A.

Mony. Secretary.

CONTENTS

Forest Talks

Page

1.

Civilization

1

2.

Property

• • •

12

3

Reformer

24

4.

Stories (Lord Byron)

• « •

45

(Maser Musician)

47

(Dodging Death)

49

•

(This is my Carrot)

50

(Equality)

• • «

52

5.

Love

• • •

58

6,

Rest

61

7.

Married Life

• • •

19

8.

The Snares of 99

83

9.

Hoarding of Wealth

• • •

89

10.

Querries about God - '

• • •

92

11.

Never be disturbed

98

12.

Prapayama and Will Power

•« «

113

13.

Letters from the Himalayas

• • •

124

14.

Letters to Mrs. Wellman

(Suryanand)

* •• •

190

15.

Letters to Mrs, Pauline Whitman

(Kamalananda)

• • •

236

1(5.

Letters from America

• • •

252

17.

Letters from Indian Plains

259

18.

Wanted

264

SAYINGS OF RAMA
1

Sell not your liberty ;t6 Buddha, Jesus,
Mohammed, or Krishna.

. . 2 ,

If three hundred and thirty-three billons of
Christ appear in the world, it will do no good,
unless you your-self undertake to remove the
darkness within. Depend not on others.

, '3

All religion .is simply an attempt to unveil
ourselves, to explain our Self.

4. V-

True Religion means faith in Good rather
than faith in Coi/, "

. 5

Remember, religion, is a thing of the heart
and virtue is ai thing of the heart, so is sin.
Sin and virtue ^ha-vp to. . .do altogether with
your position and fr^me of mjnd.-

FOREST TALKS

FOREST TALKS
No. I
Civilization

Stretched beneath the cedars and pines, a
cool stone serving for pillow, the soft sand for
bed, one leg resting carelessly on the other,
drinking fresh air with the whole heart, kissing
the glorious light with fulness of joy, singing
OM, letting the murmuring stream to keep
time, Rama is questioned, half in joke, by a
visitor—some upstart of civilization:—

“Why do you import Asiatic laziness into
America ? Go out, do some good.”

Rama:—O my dear Self ! As to doing
good, is not that profession already choked,
overcrowded ? Leave me alone, me and my
Rama.

Laziness, did you say ? Oriental laziness ?
Why ? What is laziness ?

Is it not laziness to keep floundering in the
quagmire of conventionality and let oneself

2 IN WOODS OF gdd-:ie\uzation

flow down the current of custom and fashio.i
and sink like a dead weight in the well of
appearances and be caught in the pond Oi
possession and spend the time, which should
te God's, in making gold and call it “doing,
good ?” Is it not laziness to practically let
oth<^rs live your life and have no frccdoni in
dress, eating, walking, sleeping, laughing, anl
weeping, not to say anything of talking ? Is it
not laziness to lose your Godhead ? Whnt for
is this hurry and worry, this break-neck hot
haste and feverish rush ? To accumulate almi¬
ghty Dollar like others, and what then ? To
enjoy as others ? No. There is no enjoyment
in running after enjoyment. O dear dupes
of opinions, why postpone your enjoyment?
Why don't you sit down here in this natural
garden on the banks of this beautiful moun¬
tain-stream and enjoy the company of your
real blood relations—free air, silvery light,
playful water and green earth—relations of
which your blood is really formed? Hide bound
in caste are the civilized nations. They
separate themselves from fellow-beings and
exile themselves from free open Nature and

rOREST TALKS NO. I

3

frjsh fragrant natural lifi iat3 cbii drawing
rooms—dens and dungeons. They banish
themselves from the wide world, exx)m!nuni-
cate themselves from all creation, ostracise
themselves from plants and animals. By
arrogating to themselves airs of superiority,
prestige, respectability, honour, they cut them¬
selves into isolated stagnation. Have mercy,
my friends, have mercy o.i yourssl /cs.

The wealth swept out of the po?session of
more needy and added to your property by
organised craft will enable you simply to have
sickening dinners of hotels and taverns and
furnish you with pallid countenances and con¬
ventional looks, will imprison you in boxes
called rooms, choked with the stink of artificia¬
lity, will keep you all the time in the restlessness
of mind excited by all sorts of unnatural stimu¬
lants—physical and mental. Why all such
fuss for mere self-delusion? In the name of
such supposed pleasures lose not your hold
on Real Joy, no need of beating about the
bush. Come, enjoy the Now and Here. Come
lie with me on the grass.

Don’t you waste away your life in soliciting

4 IN WOODS OF GOD REALIZATION

the favour of silver or gold to Insure your lifi.
Can your life be insured by becoming rich m
money and paying in time ? Don’t you believe
it, O deluded Immortal ! Why seek excuses for
existence in rush and push about dainty tndes?

*'The world is much with us; lare and soon,

Getting and spending, we Uy waste our powers ;

Little we see in Nature that is ours j
We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon !

This sea that bears her bosom to the moon ;

The winds that would be howling at all hours
And are up-gather’d now like s'eeping flowers ;

For this, for every thing, we aie out of tune;

It moves us not.— Great God ! I’d rather be
A pagan suckled in a creed outworn,-
So might 1, standing on this pleasant lea.

Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn.

Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea ;

Or hear old Triton blow his wreathed horn”—

Wordsworth.

The so-called advanced nations of Europe
and America are only in advanced stages of
mortification. Advancement means spiritual
or intellectual advancement. True progress
must touch the real man and not waste itself
on his mere shadow. Progress has nothing

FOREST TALKS NO. I

5

to do with matirial riche; or with the multiply¬
ing of unnecessary necessities. The ancient
Aryans, writing magnificieat works, living
unsophisticated, free lives and owning nothing
in the world, led a mode of life to be repeated
by History again with proper modifications.
Present civilization is side-tracked from its
main end. Man is talked of just as they
speak of corn and wheat; prices rising and
falling. Rise above it. Nothing can set a
price on you.

Beloved devotees of Show, to you the
Aryan ideal of Sannyasa, Renunciation,
appears as idle dreaming. Be on your guard,
please, the time is ripe to shake you and wake
you up and make you realize what a terrible
nightmare you were under. The civilized
man without renunciatinn through love is
only a more experienced and wiser savage.

Be not charmed by glamour, artificiality,
conventionality, money-madness of the civilized
world. These have proved a failure. These
were tried in the fire and found wanting like
wood, hay. or stubble. Half the population
is dying of starvation, the other half is buried

6

IN WOOD OF GOD-REALIZATIOK

under conspicuous waste, supirfluous furniture,
scent, bottles, affectations, galvanized manners
all sorts of precious trifles, squalid riches, and
unhealthy show.

Neither mental nor manual labour is incom¬
patible with health and longevity except the
one is maintained at the expanse of the other.
But in the present-day world so.ti.; are living
on ( rather dying of) manual labour, others
arc perishing from the luxury of intellectual
dissipation ( mental strain ). This is like dry
bread being divided among some members of
the family and mere butter (or garnishing )
distributed among some others.

The self-condemned slums of the Universe
are those who possess any thing, the real
Shudras are those who claim anything, the
self-impeached prisoners in dingy dungeons
are those who own anything, the pitiable atoms
are those who are for accumulation. These
suicides choking and strangling themselves in
the dirty dust of riches calling themselves
kings and presidents, some drowning themselves
in the depth of darkness calling themselves
doctors and philosophers, some be foundered

FORET TALKS NO. I

7

in the quagmire of weakness and nervousness
calling it strength, bottom-like taking airs of
superiority at their very ludicrous condition,
self-hypnotised to fish on dry floor—helplessly
suffering from the nightmare of pos.session ond
properly, these self-persecuting strange asetics
need. emancipation and waking up. Down
with' the prerogatives and presumptions of
wealth, knowledge, titles, and authority. Equa¬
lity is the law of happiness. Savage greed,
the animal instinct of clutching, grasping and
the worse than animal tendency to possess
and accumulate keeps them hurried, worried,
and flurried. Let the typhoid fever of arro¬
gance and vain ambition be allayed. Let the
inexorable Truth be instilled and drilled into
every ear: “Just inasmuch as thou hast posse¬
ssed anything, thou hast been possessed and
obsessed.

Be not oppressed by the pressure of Civi¬
lization or the ways of the world around you,
O aspirer after Truth ! Be not handicapped by
the show and display of the so-called advancing
nations. Their “facts and figures’* are mere
trickery of the senses, fables, and fictions; and

8

IN WOODi OF GOD-REAUZATION

their “hard cash or stern reality" is mere
gossamer and will-o’-the-wisp. In the twen¬
tieth century the day is not far off when the
progressing nations must change their forms
of government or ways of living and fashion
them on the principles of freedom and Vedanta.
In renouncing the spirit of Vedantic renuncia¬
tion lies the salvation of nations as well as of
individuals. There is no other way.

In all the civilized Western countries,
suffering from the fever of thirst to accumulate
indigenous forces are strongly at work which
soon, very soon, must wake up the self-stifled
grubs from the nightmare of Possession. The
Reign of Renunciation is to bless the world,
the Kingdom of Freedom.

Ques.-Do you mean to advocate a new faith?

Ans —Rama is no advocate of any idea.
Truth advocates itself. Rama simply offers
no resistance to the Master, just keeps himself
transparent, lets the light shine free. Let it
shine in any form. Let the body, mind, and
all be consumed by the flame ! There can be
nothing more fortunate, message delivered,
kill the messenger.

FOREST TALKS NO. I

9

Ques .—Do you play the role of an apostle
or prophet ?

■ Arts, —No. That is below my dignity. J
am God itself and so are you. The body is
my vehicle.

Ques .—It ( your message ) won’t succeed.
People are not prepared to receive it.

Ans .—What is that to me ? T (Truth) never
march on these catchpenny considerations.
Ages are mine, Eternity is mine. If Christ was
rejected by his own people, the whole world
took him up. If rejected by his own time,
the succeeding ages were his.

Ques .—History docs not bear out your
thought.

Your History is incomplete. That
chapter in History which this Truth is to
write, you have not read yet. History shrivels
up before Will, even if it be the will of one
man. History loses itself on the study of
symptoms missing the intrinsic cause.

Ques .—According to Emerson, true bond
of love is feeling alike, and you, a typical non¬
conformist, don’t seem to agree with any body,
what a loveless life you must be dragging !

IN WOODS OF god-realization

I exult in looking qt my paintings
(world) from different stand-points. Here I
view them as a conservative from behind;
there I watch them as a progressive liberal
from the front ; as Rama ( or Puran ) I exa-
mine from the right; as a critic (of the
Thundering Dawn) I inspect from the left.
All these poses and side-views are entirely
mine. When a milk-woman is churning out
butter, the string in the right hand is being
pulled by herself as well as that in the left
hand. All views being n ine own, how could
1 differ from any body ? Thus am I the ocean
of LOTe surging in different waves. I agree
to differ from each and all. Come, enjoy with
me this Agreement in difference.

Qnes.—\% it not mysticism? How can
one individual be identified with another

mdivjdual who lives in complete separation
from him ?

Aw.-Well, let it be so. I also wonder
that to all appearance we cannot be one and
yet we are one.

Lame Philosophy may not be capable of
proving It, senses maybe helpless in showing

FOREST TALKS NO. I

II

it; yet it is so. When reality is realized,
appearances vanish. Love demonstrates it.
^*That Thou ArtT God Itself thou art.

— Why do you say QoA-ltself^.

Some worship God as Father in
Hemen and address It as He. Some worship
God as Mother Divine and ought to address
It as She. Others worship God as beloved
sweet-heart (like Persian poets), so before
using any personal pronoun for God we ought
to determine whether God is Miss, Mrs., or
Mister.

Ques .—Then what is God ?

Ans, Neither Miss, nor Mrs., nor Mister,
but Mystery,

FOREST TALKS
No. II
Property

Most of the following was orginally
written in reply to a question asked on the
road just before the parting of ways.

Was it you, Blessed one, who once asked
Rama’s views about “Property-rights” ? or, if
you excuse Rama for the correcton, “Property
wrongs” ? Well, whoever it may have been
that put the question, in Rama’s eyes it was
your own noble self, whether in this body or
some other.

What is Property ?

That which is proper to one or right for
a being (or thing).

Inherent lightness, combustibility, etc., are
the properties of Hydrogen but the glass which
holds the gas can never be its property. So,
manhood, nay, Godhead is your property.

FOREST TALKS NO. II

13

but the house in which you live or jewellery
can never be your property. People are
willing to lose their birthright, their natural
Property—Godhead, but how persistently they
make fun of themselves by tenaciously clinging
to bouse, gold, and the like regarding these
their property ! What a huge joke !

All divisions and distinctions on the
riches and possessions are quite as unnatural
as mankind’s classification by shoes.

Rama proclaims by this that the only veil
or hindrance to the realization of Self is the
usual sense of property, the rights of bundles
and baggage. The very moment we want
to possess a thing, possessed we are by the
demon of Self-delusion. Renunciation, or
you may call it All-Possession, by identification
with Truth is Vedanta pure and simple.
Perfect Democracy, equality, throwing of the
load of external authority, casting aside the
vain accumulative spirit, throwing overboard
all prerogatives, spurning the airs of superio¬
rity, and shaking off the embrassments of
inferiority, is Vedanta on the material plane.
And Vedanta carries that spirit on the

14

IN WOODS OF GOD-REALIZATION

mental and spiritual planes as well. Giving
up the exclusive claim to any thing and
everything including the body, intellect,
writings, sayings, house, family, reputation,
prestige, is Vedanta. In other words, destroy¬
ing all hedges and limitations, fencing not
yourself fn by fencing others out, but as
God regaining supreme dominion over every
power, atom, star, and tree in the world is
Vedanta. Many organized attempts are being
made ( often uncon.sciousIy) to pave the way
for the realization of Vedanta by the world
at large. The flag of Sannyasa must eventu¬
ally wave all over the world.

Some Vedantins are already living a life
of perfect Love-Government and in some
quarters the flame has been kept ahvc from
prehistoric times.

Just think of a sage sitting on the bank
of the Ganges while cows, dogs, fishes, and
birds, emboldened by his love, fearlessly
approach and share with him the loaf of bread
from his hands. Let me cite an extreme case.

I know of a Swami whose body was
suffering from a severe wound. Worms were

FOREST talks NO II 15

eating up the skin, no ointment to kill the
Viorms would he use, or when the satiated
worms fell down from the pus of the sore he
would pipk them up, and laughingly, smilingly
help them on to the sore part. This little
body, belongs to every insect in the world and
the vyide world belongs to me. The universe

IS my body. Air and earth are my dress and
shoes.

S\yami means a continuous giver. Keep
to Truth and let eycrythiag else go. A
Sannyasin, the only alms taken by whom are
given away to the more needy, when he has
nothing more to give, very cheerfully does
he give away his body to Hies, worms, and
reptiles, and, as the Self of all, he enjoys in
the capacity of receiver as well. He enjoys
as flies , and worms while partaking of the
feast of flesh ; he enjoys as air and heat
while drying up the bones.

Ordinary Charity The sense of possession
has taken such a turn, and things have come
to such a pass that to give back a nominal
moiety of the wealth, which has been accu¬
mulated by degrading, impoverishing and

16 IN WOODS OF GOD-KEALIZATION

hard pressing one portion of society, is called
noble charity, as if to pour a little water into
the mouth of a dying victim to prolong his
tortures were the highest virtue. To charge
no yyaj ( which originally means in Sanskrit,
fraud, craft, and nowadays designates interest )
is considered great favour, because vyaj is the
order of the day.

This describes the charity of Europe and
America. Indian charity, however, does not
trouble itself so much about the starving or
labouring classes (Sudras), but it takes the
charitable donors straight to Heaven by
feeding the oversatiated idlers, in the store¬
houses of God, the high representatives of
religion petrified.

I shall make simplicity fashionable. What
makes you more attractive ? Is it the clothes
that conceal you or the grace that reveals
you ? No need of borrowing beauty from
clothes or anything. Wear natural smiles,
health, and cheerfulness.

Let any body come and steal. Let the
poor government make a fool of herself by
becoming possessed of possessions. What is

/

FOREST TALKS NO. II

17

that to you ? You give not your portion up.
Truth, truth is your Self. Certainly not for
the ‘‘salt sea spray” ( of material riches ) but
for Truth you stand up. Shall we require
any University Degrees ? Nonsense. The
final Degree must be self-conferred.

It is true that a dream-built sword is
necessary to vanquish a dream-tiger. But
from the stand-point of wakeful consciousness
both the sword and the tiger of dreamland do
not count anything. Just so with the
empirical sciences and arts : however indis¬
pensable they may be as worldly knowledge,
they carry no value in Divine Wakefulness.
One of the great stumbling blocks in the way of
self-realization is the deference and abnormal
respect for intellectual capital—University-
degrees. certificates, titles, honours, and other
mental possessions. To a man of realization
the world is simply the creation of the
hypnotism of people, who in this self-created
bedlam keep each other in countenance^ by
mutual suggestion. All the objects in the
world are simply like the lakes created by a
hypnotized man on dry floor, and being of

18 IN WOODS OF GOD-REALIZAION

such nature, the knowledge of those objects
also, on which the Doctors and Professors
pride and take airs of superiority, is nothing
more than hypnotism. The world is but
etherial and so is the knowledge of these
people. To a man of realization who has risen
to the fountain-head of all worldly phenomena,
neither the great spheres, the rivers, the
mountains, the suns and stars appear as
surprising, nor the knowledge of such
phenomena as possessed by astronomers,
mathematicians, botanists, geologists, ;and
zoologists appears to be of any intrinsic value
beyond mere play, amusement, and fun. .1 The
people who possess wordly objects (capitalists)
and those who possess the knowledge of objects
(Scientists) stand on the same level with
those objects, that is to say, are phenomenal.
The frowns and favours, criticisms and
suggestions of the Doctors, Philosophers, and
Professors fall flat upon a man of God-
Realization, have no meaning to him. Usually
Universities, shows and fairs are nothing
short of diflerent means to prolong the
hypnotic state. As a rule, churches, temples.

FOREST TALKS NO. 11 lO

gatherings, and meetings are all different
methods of prolo.iging the hypnotic world-
sleep. The jivanmukta feels no SLjrprise or
wonder if the sun were to cool do^a ta the
freezini p^int, or if the moon were to rise in
temperattire to the highest degrci. niy, e/:n
if the flame of fire were to barn belov the
fuel instead of above it, or hll space wore
rolled away like a scroll. ■

There was a time when the Brah.n.rns
•(Priestcraft) ruled the world ; thore was a.i
age when the Kshatriyas (Chivalry) rei^iei;
these are now the days when Vaishyas
(Capitalists) govern; and next is coming the
era of the supremacy of labour in Sudras,
but Sudras blessed with the spirit of Sannyasa.

In Europe and America, the working class
(the Sudra caste) is not stereotyped and
rigidified by rules of heredity and religious
injunctions, and yet matters are very unsatis¬
factory. In India the evil and injustice is dou¬
bly multiplied by the caste-system coming to
aid the self-delusion of all the parties. This pre¬
vents strikes but makes the whole nation more
helpless and more timid than innocent sheep. ••

20 IN WOODS OF GOO-REALIZATION

Up to this time Vedanta has been the
exclusive property of a few only. It has lived
on the intellectual plane mostly. This child,
conceived so long ago, remained in the womb
of the earth (the Himaiyas), but it comes
down at last to the plains as the holy Ganges,
washing alike the Brahman and the Sudra,
purifying man as well as God, sweeping
away all unnatural dilTercnces. Organic man
should be one, which is seldom felt. Just as
regular meals you need to take consciously
but the assimilation or distribution of the
food material into different parts and organs
of the body takes care of itself unconsciously
to you, while you concentrate in unity and
integration (love and divinity ) the differentia¬
tion and appropriate variation will take
care of itself. \

O Princes, Priests, Sudras, and Ruling
classes of India ! Can you conceive the state j
of affairs a few years hence ? Call it odd and
curious, yet I see before me a world of j

Swamis ; gods walking on the face of the ^

earth ; clay-classifications of Man swept away ;
the distinctions in India, China, America,

I

FOREST TALKS NO. II

21

England, etc., dissolved ; new crystals
springing up to be dissolved again in their
turn.

O dreaming darlings ! Cast away the
scales from your eyes and see the highest
Sannyasins joining hands with the lowest
Sudras; lo ! there is the begging bowl
converted into a spade or hoe. Sannyasins
shorn of their laziness. Sudra—labour exalted
to the dignity of Sannyasa, the spirit of
renunciation actuating all, shameless boldness
of a harlot and the purity of Rama combined,
the tenderness of a lamb wedded to the
resolute intrepidity of a lion, the extremes
meet and the intermediate unnatural distinc¬
tions dissolved, the world becomes one family
Sec all this, look there and see !

Shall we require sword or fire ? No.
Any police ? No. Is it Utopia ? No, flimsy
phantom this. Is it communism or socialism ?
May be. But for India it is the native
growth, the most natural application of
Vedanta. O Indians, if you know yourselves
and adopt this renunciation, where will the
disease be ? When the mental malady is

22 IN WOODS OF GOD-REALIZAION

gone, material disease is bound to flee. No
need of underhand work, no need of policy
playing, no need of suspicion and fear. Let
that be followed by the timid Deicides.

I am Emperor Rama, whose throne is
your own hearts. When T preached in the
Vedas, when I tauglit at Kurukshetra,
Jerusalem, Mecca, I was misunderstood. 1
raise my voice again. My voice is your voice.
Tat Twom Asi Thou art all thou seest.

Some of you are scowling. Some of you
1 see have turned up your noses at an aiVgle
of thirty degrees. Some of you have thrown
off the paper in disgust. Do what you please
but the Dispensation must work. No power
can prevent it, no kings, devils, or gods
can withstand it. Inevitable is Truth’s
order. Faint not. My head is your head;
cut it if you please, but a thousand others
vill grow in its pla(;e.

Shams-Tabrez sings the sam^; melody.
Did the sweet Bullah and powerful Gopal
Singh of the Punjab chant the same song ?
Did Jesus babble the same Truth ? Did
Mohammad see the same Crescent moon ?

I

FOREST TALKS NO. 11

23

That is nothing to me. My Id comes when
I see her» Old truth is ever new. Your Id
comes when you realize for yourself. All the
prophets and saints* the heroes of your self-
ignorance, are merged in you the moment
you wake up to your real Self, Goi/-Truth.

OM ! OM !! OM !!!

FOREST TALKS
No. Ill
Reformer

“Higher and still higher
From the earth thou springest
Like a cloud of fire ;

The deep blue thou wingest
And singing still dost scar.

And soaring ever singest.”

Shelley.

The Holy Shadow
{Translated from French by Ruth Craft)

Long, long ago there liyed a saint so good
that the astonished angels came down from
the Heaven to see how a mortal could be so
godly. He simply went about his daily life
diffusing virtue, as the star diffuses light and
the lower perfume, without even being
aware of it.

FORET TALKS NO. Ill

25

Two words summed up his day:—he gave,
he forgave. Yet these words never fell from
his lips. They were expressed in his ready
smile, his kindness, forbearance, and charity.

The angels said to God: O Lord, grant
him the gift of miracles.”

God replied : “ I consent; ask what he
wishes.”

So they said to the saint: “ Should you
like the touch of your hands to heal the
sick ?”

“No,” answered the saint, “ I would rather
God should do that.”

“ Should you like to convert guilty souls
and bring back wandering hearts to the right
path ?”

“No: that is the mission of angels. I
pray, I do not convert,”

“Should you like to become a model of
patience attracting men by the lustre of your
virtue, and thus glorifying God ?”

" No,” replied the saint, “ if men should
be attracted to me, they would become
estranged from God. The Lord has other
means of glorifying Himself.”

26 IN WOODS OF GOD-REALIZATIOM

“ What do you desire then ? ” cried the
angels.

** What can I wish for ? ” asked the saint
smiling.

“ That God gives me His grace; with that,
should I not have everything ?”

But the angels wished : “ You must ask
for a miracle, or one will be forced upon you.”

“ Very well, ” said the saint, “ that
I may do a great deal of good, without ever
knowing it.”

The angels were greatly perplexed. They
took counsel together and resolved upon the
following plan : Every time the saint’s
shadow should fall behind him, or at either
side, so that he could not see it, it should have
the power to cure disease, soothe pain, and
comfort sorrow.

And so it come to pass : when the saint
walked along, his shadow, thrown on the
ground on either side or behind him, made
arid paths green, caused withered plants to
bloom, gave clear water to dried up brooks,
fresh colour to pale little children, and joy to
unhappy mothers.

FOREST TALKS NO. Ill

27

But the saint simply went about his daily
life diffusing virtue as the star diffuses light
and the flower perfume, without eve.i being
aware of it.

And the people respecting his humility,
followed him silently, never speaking to him
about his miracles. Little by little, they
came even to forget his name, and called him
only “The Holy Shadow.”

Sense in English

Let Truth gain such immense proportions
for you that before its magnitude all
appearances and the vanity-show of purses
and persons may volatilize into evanescence.
And when your identification with Truth is
true and real, the shafts of malice shall not
penetrate you, the rhinoceros shall find no
point wherein to drive his horn, the tiger
shall find no room to fix his claws, the sword
shall find no place to thurst itself, cannon
balls raining on your body shall not touch you.

Your league should be with Truth alone.
Even if you are obliged ta stand alone, live

28 IN WOODS OF GOD REALIZATION

with Truth, die with Truth. If on the
ethereal heights of Truth-life thou art left
alone, the sun of righteousness should be
companion enough for you. Comrades
will begin to pour in by taking the living
suggestions from you. The organization
thus formnd will be natural. Don’t run
after organizing by compromising. I do not
want to make any converts and gather
any followers. 1 simply live the Truth.
Truth requires no defence and defenders.
Does the sun-light require any apostles
and messengers ? I don’t spread the Truth,
the Truth speeds me and spreads itself.

Say the Evolutionists on adaptation.
“ The world is not on the whole a hard world
to live in. if one have the knack of making
the proper concessions. Hosts of animals,
plants, and men have acquired this knack and
they and their descendants are able to hold
their own in the pressure of what is called
the ‘Struggle for Existance.’ Yes, one who
possesses the Art of Living is a Rishi, all the
world must harmonize with him because he
harmonizes with all the world. How

FOREST TALKS NO. HI

29

could obstacles present before a person in
accord with the all through renunciation of
the desiring little self ? But the people
are very apt to misapply this principle of
Science.” “ The child of altruism alone
survives.”

What is altruism ?

Does it mean continuous looking out?
What the people are expeciingy what they
would like, desire, and approve of? Does
the “ knack of making concession ** imply
conformity to the opinions of the people ?
or is it the fever of “ doing ** that constitutes
the Service of Humanity ?

No. Truthful Individualism is the only
true altruism. He who simply keeps himself
well attuned to cheerfulness and love and
gives out plainly the Truth as revealed to
him without distorting it in the name of
Concession or Conformity, such a one alone
will survive in the long run.

When an apparently new and startling
idea is struggling out in your breast, rest
assured that thousands around you must also
have at least felt the same way if not definitely

30 IN WOOD OF GOD-REALIZATION

conceived the same thought; just as
while OF.e melon is ripening in a field,
thousand others must also be growing under
the influence of the same season. When one
leaf, petal or stamen begins to form on a tree
or one plant begins to push its way above
the ground in spring, there are hundred'’ of
thousands all around just ready to form. A
new spiritual, moral, or intellectual birth is
ever sacred—as sacred as a child within the
mother's womb—it is a kind of blashphemy
against the Holy Ghost to conceal it.

In being true to your Self you will be
astonished to find yourself true to All.
Concession, Renunciation, Conformity in
favour of Truth and Truth alone is sinless.
Respect for persons, appearances, titles,
riches, learning, and forms is idolatory.
Worldly wisdom is only excuse of Ignorance.

“ With joy the stars perform their shining,

And the Sea its long Moon silverd roll ;

For self-poised they live, nor pine with nothing
All the fevr ofe some differing saul ”

“ Bounded by themselves and unregardful,

In what state God^s other works may be.

FOREST TALKS NO. UI

31

In their own tasks all their powers pouring
These attain the mighty life you see/^

“ Resolve to be thyself ; and know that he
Who finds himself loses his misery
Be it life or death I care only for reality.
Be it sin or sorrow. Til be true to the inner
genius.

O Truth, I love Thee; O Love, I am
true to Thee,

A great malevolent force is the anxiety
on the part of " workers to accomplish ”
something, to achieve ostensible results, that
the matters may record, the largest possible
number of converts and followers The
anxiety for “ facts and figures ** works
all sorts of mischief. There may be venom
enough in a dead body to infect a nation,
does it prove the greatness of the carcase ?
Often times to that amounts the contagious
spread of some creeds.

People are too eager to see the trees,
planted by them, fructify and to eat the fruits
thereof. This implies lack of faith and
selfishness. Jesus, Nanak, and some others
made their bodies the humble manure of

32

fN WOODS OF GOD-REALIZATION

trees which bore fruit many generations after
them.

Some speakers are ambitious only to
gather like comets a conspicuous tail of
trailing show behind them where the huge
nebulous appendix, despite its lenght and size,
has practically no weight at all.

The fireworks-illumination attracts crowds,
but directly after the show is over, no trace
is left behind. And who could ever improve
in the firework's light the restless jumping
Jack ? It is the continuous steady light—
let it be even the humble candle lights—
that truly serves and blesses.

Throw not your centre of gravity outside
yourself. Pure love and self-sacrifice is
the requirement of character, good to others
is only contingent.

As journeys the Earth, her eye on the Sun
through the heavenly spaces,

And radiant in azure, or Sunless, swallowed

in tempests,

Falters not, alters not journeying equal sunlit

or storm-girt,

So, Thou, Son of Earth, who hast force, Goal,
and time, go still onwards.

FOREST TALKS NO. Ill

33

There is a tendency in India to reject a
worker’s service in this line because of his
fault in that line, for instance to reject the
teachings of a preacher because his personal
habits of living are not acceptable. Thus
co-operation has become next to impossible
in the country. This tendency amounts to
rejecting the cow her milk because the cow
is not fit for riding purposes, or not riding a
mare because she yields no milk.

The clear observation of naturalists
shows that the race is not " to the swift ” nor
the battle to the strong,’* but to them who
can keep together. Prior to competition is
Combination. How is combination to be
secured among mankind ? Any combination
for combination’s sake is doomed to fail.
Natural organisms like our body are uncons¬
cious. All Science is the out-come of mutual
help, co-operation, unity and common work,
but no two Scientists need live together. In
faithfulness to the same Truth consists the
organization of Scientists. Children have a
common practical religion of love, play, and
innocence all over the world. This unity

34 IN WOODS OF GOD-REALIZATION

comes about by the natural faithfulness of
each child to his dear sweet Self. The desire
to be Well thought of by one’s fellows often
enough ruins the veracity of character. This
is the foundation of hypocritical society.
The additional pressure that is brought to
bear upon one by his desiring to please
others, who may have abnormal or perverted
tastes, leads him into many things he would
otherwise desire not to do. Drinking habits
are usually induced by sympathy and regard
for drinking friends.

Truth is the good. Following truth is
the only doing good. Truth makes you
strong. Truth makes you free. Independence
of outer authority and law is secured by
being a law to oneself. This is Honour.
Might does not make right, but that which
is right will justify itself in persistence, and
persistence is strength (or might). That
which is weak dies. We only know God's
purpose by what he permits. In the Book of
Nature, God with His own fingers writes so
clearly and unmistakably : There is no Sin
but weakness, and it is born of Ignorance.

FOREST TALKS NO. Ill

35

That which persists and grows must be
ill line with God’s purpose. A law is only an
observed generalization of what is. The
Gospel of Nature gives us the following law :

Whatever is right shall justify itself sooner
or later by becoming might.” Truth is
tough. It will not break like a bubble
at a touch ! Nay, you may kick it about all
day like a football and it will be round and
sound in the evening. God is governing the
world and Mighty^ nay Almighty Truth alone
conquers. Be not astonished at or afraid of
the Truth and speak from the depth of your
heart “ lam God'^

That parly alone which demonstrates more
of Truth, works more in harmony with
the Power Infinite, and reveals more of the
Almighty, shall have success and superiority.
Truth conciousness brings strenght and victory,
Skin-conciousness (deha abhiman), even if it
be Brahman-conciousness or Sannyasin-con-
sciousness ) makes a cobbler (Chamar, Sudra )
of you. It is this leather dealing Chandalhood
against which the sane Shruti warns you again
and again.

36

IN WOODS OF GOD-RBALIZATION

A truthful, self-denying person can bring
the noble spirit of Sannyasa to bear upon
the leather dealer’s trade. That trade,
profession, or business in itself cannot make
a Sudra of you. The roots of the tree of
Nationality are women, children and Sudras,
the proper education and care of all of whom
is sadly neglected in India. The so-called
higher classes, par excellence, are only the
fruit of the tree.

Let us not waste all our time in trying
to keep the fruit on the tree. Attend to the
root, feed it and water it properly.

Dear Reformers! By catering to the
tastes of the rich, your personality might per¬
haps be exalted for the time, but Truth will
advance through the poorer classes, children
and women, and through them alone. So
says History. There is a tendency on the part
of teachers to compliment themselves when
officials attend their speeches. Well, it is
true that the Government employees are in
these days more intelligent than the rest,
and can be of some service, but the uplifting
of the nation is not to be expected through

FOREST TALKS NO. Ill

37

them. People who have sold thsir liberty
for a pittance (call it a large salary ), whose
vitality is sapped by the now necessiry evil
of routine work and whose energy is sucked
by overwork, these honorable stone-Thakur
jees -from their pedestal of worshipful
confinement and high helplessness—let them
enjoy the well-earned siren-songs of flattery,
soothing lullabies, and homage of their
attendants ; but real revival will begin with
the humble root and root alone.

The chief cause of the failure of ever so
many movements in India, has been that the
workers spent away their energies in water¬
ing the fruits and leaves (nobility and
gentry). The poor Sudras need light and
life. The people will upraid you for attending
to the poor “ nothings ” as the “ lower ”
classes are (;onsidered. But remember, even
a nothing (cipher) can multiply the value
ten times, being placed on the right side of
the significant figure 1. Let your ‘I* be
identified with figures or ciphers in the right
way. “ Tat-Twam-Asi. ” That thou art.

Some say “women, children, and Sudras”

38 IN WOODS OF GOI>REALl2AlON

are not adhikorins ( worthy of Brahma Vidya ).
It is just that view which has kept Vedanta
a great but doubtful formula—a mere formula
and no reality.

If every child is worthy of the Sun's light
and air, why not of spiritual light and air ?
Why shut out Brahma Vidya from any one ?
Down with the closed rooms and under¬
ground cells of ignorance and weakness. Let
Divine Light and air bless all.

Spiritual Pauperism is produced by giving
people moral coraraandments. Hysteric
moralists defeat their own end by forcing
forms of virtue instead of enlightening themsel¬
ves and others as to the knowledge of Reality.
Everyone is true to his lights. No one will
step into a well when he sees it before him.
All our “ Do's ” and “ Don’ts ” appeal only
to the animality in man. When we tell even
a boy or girl “ Thou shalt do this or that,”
the rational in him or her resents and rebels
because of being ignored and slighted. Our
imperative commandments are like trying to
drive away the horse (the animality) from
its rider (rationality). We teach children

FOREST TALKS NO. Ill

39

the spirits of rebellion in trying to rule them
or exercise on them any authority other than
their ‘own reason. Where forced rule does
not create rebellion it creates decay and
death. According to a law of Psychology
the more indirect a hint in the normal state
of man, the stronger is its effect. In our
forced moral teachings to ordinary person
naturally takes a suggestion to the contrary.
Desire of anything is increased by prohibition
or condemnation.

The custom is that people cannot spare
even God and want Him to wait upon their
precious little self, serving them with daily
or monthly bread. A customer of mystic
power once went to a trader in religion,
asking the venerable Siddha (or Pir) to teach
him some “ divine ” formula by repeating
which he might gain the worldly end, nearest
to his heart. The Fakir told the mantrarr,
but imposed a rather queer condition for its
fruition. “ Let not the thought of a monkey
cross your mind while repeating the formula
for a prescribed length of time.” The poor
fellow returned to the Guru next day ^

40 IN WOODS OF GOD-REALIZATION

complaining :' “ Sir, the idea of monkey
could never occur to me, had you not warned
me against it. But now the monkey-thought
clings te me with monkey-grip, I cannot
shake it off ” Thus impurity and other sins
would long have left the world, hat not our
blessed teachers kept them up by continual
dwelling on them in condemning them. Adam,
poor Adam, in the magnificent grand garden
of Eden would never have thought of eating
the fruit of a particular tree in a neglected
quarter, had not the Biblical God distinguished
it as '■’‘forbidden.''’

In the name of reform we carry our
dictatory directions to the extremes. A child
being once asked his name replied : “Mamma
always calls me Don’t! That must be my
name.” So have people lost their Real Self
under the weight of rules and orders, and
they fancy themselves to be merest name
and form.

The practical Vedanta needs to be commen¬
ced in India not through books so much as
fhicufh hralth. Vedanta is health—physical,
mental, and spiritual. Not only colds, coughs.

FOREST TALKS NO. Ill

41

fevers, diabetes, and the like, but jealousy
laziness, distemper, unclean thoughts, weak¬
ness, and other forms of impurity are
immediately washed away by restoring health
of stomach.

' True liberty is the accurate appreciation
of necessity, I am that necessity and being
that necessity am free. Real health is in
knowing Me. Unless you have me, your
so-called health is only a fair covering of
foul disease. The words Health, Whole, Holy
belong to the same stock. The feeling of
Unity is health. Live in that Unity and be
not overwhelmed by the importance of any
thing in the world. Say what you have to
say, not what you ought. The problems of
life cannot remain unsolved, for life is the
solution of problems. Let t^e Health express
itself free, harbour no motives. The improper
property to be immediately renounced are one’s
objects. Look straight : which means dare to
look at any body and everybody just as boldly
as you look at trees and rivers fearlessly,
with no apprehension, as a child, projecting
no personality in them, seeing your own Self

42 IN WOODS OF G0D-RI-ALI2AI0N

and no stranger in these. Children who play
life discern its true laws and relations, more
clearly than men who think tliey are wiser
by experience, that is, by failure. Even nettle
(Bichhu ghas) will not hurt you if you
grasp it unhesitatingly, but will set your
skin in burning irritation if merely touched.
There are some good workers whose private
conversation is mostly full of (cautious
apprehension of ) “ Spies ” and ( wise fear of)
“ Detectives. ” These worthy Reformers, I
dare say, are thieves themselves. Dear Detec¬
tives, Sweet Spies, you are entirely welcome,

I need you. I shall pay you infinitely more
than your previous salary (if any). Please
do detect me. Pray, do spy into my secrets,
and I will be pleased to give you all I have,
all your desires will I wonderfully fulfil, all
your wants will removed, no more will
you suffer pain, poverty will be swept away,
all the kingdoms you will find at your feet.
Bless your secret-seeking heart! Come.

Work every healthy person must be doing
by the very demands of health. The child
has no motives, yet it is one of'the most active

FORET TALKS NO. Ill

43

beings on the earth. Vedanta requires of you
to hit hard, play your part manfully, but hang
not your joy on the event, let every stroke be
propelled and impelled by joy and not always
he aiming vainly at Joy.

Ye who stand alone in Truth, be not afraid
that the vast majority is against you. No.
This seeming vast majority of Conservative
Ignorance is like the armies of morning dew-
drops swarming on the fresh leaves and green
blades of grass. This melting majority is
glistening simply to bid you welcome, O
Sun. Identify yourself with Truth, what
matters it, if a handful of seething millions
opposes you, the majority is still on your
side. The rocks, trees, rivers, breeze, the
sun and stars are with you. Time is with
you. The day is yours, centuries are yours.
Eternity is yours. All embracing Nature is
with you. You surround the opponents and
are not surrounded by them. You surround
chance and take it captive.

44 IN WOODS OF GOD-REALIZATION
WANTED

Reformers—

Not of others,

but of themselves.
Who have won—

Not University distinctions,
But victory over the local self;
Age :—The youth of divine joy.
Sa/ary: —Godhead.

App/y Sharp —

With no begging solicitations
But commanding decision
To the Director of the Universe,
Your own Self.

Om! Om!! Om!!!

FOREST TALKS
No. IV
Stories

Let God work through you and there
will be no more duty—let God shine forth.
Let God show Himself. Live God, Eat God,
Drink God, Breathe God. Realise the Truth,
and the other things will take care of
themselves. Live ye the Kingdom of Heaven,
which is in you, which is you ; all other things
are added unto you.

Lord Byron (I)

He let the spirit of freedom work through
him When he was a student at the
University, the class to which he belonged in
an Examination were asked to write Essays
on the miraculous changing of water into
wine by Christ at the wedding feast. Oh ! how
some of those candidates laboured I During

46

IN WOODS OF GOD REALIZATION

the time allotted, some of them wrote long,
long stories of how the guests were dressed,
how the feast was spread, how Jesus looked,
and went on and on to elaborate upon the
subject. During all this time, Byron sat in
his seat looking at the ceiling, watching the
faces of the other students, and well nigh
whistling. When the time was up, the
Professor came around to collect their
composition books and as he came to Byron
he said in joke, “You must be tired, you
have been writing so hard,” and expected to be
handed a blank book, but Byron said, “Wait
a minute ” and forthwith he scrawled out a
line and handed the book to the master.
Now after three weeks or so had passed, the
result was announced, and some essays
received honourable mention, but how
surprised were all to know that Byron had
won the first prize. To convince the students
of the high merit of Byron's essay the teacher
read it in class, and this line made the whole
essay ; "The water saw its Lord and
blushedr He forced nothing. This little
line was spontaneous, and like all work, done

FOREST TALKS NO. IV 47

naturally, was perfect, free, graceful, poetic—
the work of the Self.

The eye—it cannot choose but see*

We cannot bid the ear be still >

Our bodies feel where^r they be
Against or with our will.

» « »

Think you, mid all this mighty sum
Of things for ever speaking
That nothing of itself will come
But we must still be seeking

Wordsworth.

Master Musician (IL)

There was a beautiful organ in a Church,
in fact, the organ was so fine that the
custodian would not allow an amateur to
touch it. One day while they were having
a service in the Church, a stranger, dressed
poorly, came in and wanted to play upon the
organ, but he was not allowed to near it.
He was unknown to the minister and since
this was such a choice thing, of course they*
would not let him play upon it. After the
service was over and the musician had left

48 IN WOODS OF GOD REALIZATION

the organ, this man stealthily crept up to the
organ. The minute he laid his hands upon
it, the organ recognised its master and such
music as it poured forth, though the congre¬
gation were on their feet and ready to go,
still when these peals of grandeur came forth,
they were spell-bound, enraptured, and could
not leave the Church. This wielder of wonder¬
ful harmony was the master musician, the
inventor of the organ himself.

We do not give the Self, God, Love, a
chance to do for us, we must care for this
body, we must care for this mind, and it is
plain to be seen that in that case only
common place notes come forth of us. Let
the Master play upon the organ and the
minute Love’s hands touch the chords, music
will pour forth—music that you never dreamt
of before.—wonderful light and harmony
will begin to flow, divine melodies will begin
to burst out, celestial rhapsodies emanate.

“God of the granite and the rose,

Soul of the sparrow and the bee,

The mighty tide of being flows,

Through all its channels, Love, from Thee.

FOREST TALKS NO. IV

49

*lt Springs to life in grass flowers,

Through every thread of being runs
Till from creation’s radiant towers
In glory flames, in stars and suns.

' God of the granite and the rose,

Soul of the sparrow and bee,

The mighty tide of being flows

Thti ugh all its channels back to Thee.
Thus round and round the current runs
A mighty sea without a shore,

Till man with angels, stars, and suns
Unite in love for ever more.”

- Lizzie Doben.

Dodging Death (III)

Once there was a man so clever as to
reproduce himself to such a perfection that
you could not tell the reproduction from the
original. He knew that the angel of death
was coming for him, and as he did not know
just what to do to avoid the angel, finally
settled upon what might be termed an able
device. He reproduced himself a dozen times
Now when the angel of death came, he
could not know which was the real person and
therefore did not take any. The angel returned

50 IN WOODS OF GOD-REALIZATION

to God and asked Him what to do, and after a
consultation, returned to the earth to try
again to take this man and remarked, “ Dear !
you are wonderfully clever, why, that is
just the way you have made these figures, but
there is one thing whcicin you have erred,
there is just one fault” The original man
immediately jumped up and asked suddenly,
‘In what, in what have I erred ?” And the
SfUgel said, ’‘In just this,” singling out the
clever man from the mute statues. The only
wrong is to ask ** Aw I r/g/it?” Dear one,
what else could you be ? The little imp of
doer-self is claimed by death.

This is my Carrot (IV)

In famine days a poor woman died. The
Judge of Death in his post-mortem investi¬
gation into her case, while assorting her good
and bad deeds, could discover no act of charity
except that she had once given a carrot ( or
radish, I am not sure) to a starving beggar.
By order of the Judge the carrot was reprodu¬
ced. This carrot was to take her to heaven.

FOREST TALKS NO. IV

51

She caught hold of the carrot and it began
to rise lifting her with it.

There appeared the old beggar on the
scene. He clutched at the hem of her
tattered garment, began to be elevated along
with her, a third candidate for mercy began
similarly to be uplifted being suspended from
the foot of the beggar, nay. a long series of
persons one below the other began to be
drawn up by that single Carrot-Elevator.
And strange to say the woman felt no weight
of all these souls hanging from her ! (Do not
such things often happen even in dreams ?)

These saved persons rose up higher and
still higher till they reached the Gate of
Heaven. Here the woman looked below, and
don’t know what moved her, she said to the
train of souls behind her,—

“Off, you fellows !

This is my carrot!”

And unconsciously waved her hand to
keep them away. The carrot was lost and
down fell the poor woman with the entire
train.

The facts are plainly stated, you may
moralize yourself.

52 IN WOODS OF GOD-REALIZATION

Equality (V)

The mountain and the squirrel
Had a quarrel}

And the former called the latter “Littte Brig.”
Bun replied}

*‘You are doubtless very big*

But all sorts of things and weather
Must be taken in together
To make up a year
And a sphered*

“And I think it no disgrace
To occupy my place.

If I'm not as large as you,

You are not so small as J*

And not half so spry,

I'll not deny you make
A very pretty squirrel track.

Talents differ ; all’s well and wisely put.’*

“If I carry forests on my back,

Nef i'.er can you crack a nut.**

Question .—“You say, Swamiji, that our
Self is all knowledge ; so pray tell me some
method of Vcdaatic clairvoyance by which I

FOREST TALKS NO. IV 53

may win the highest prize in the ensuing Law-
examination without reading the books.”

/ifjswer—A prince in his childhood was
playing hide-and-seek with the children of
noblemen. He had much ado to search out
the boys. A by-standcr remarked, “What is
the use of making so much fuss to discover
the play-fellows who can be collected
immediately if you exercise princely authority
to call them out ?” The prince replied. “In
that case Uie play would lose its relish, there
would remain no interest in the game”
Just so, in reality, you are the supreme ruler
and all-knowing Omniscient Divinity, but as
you have in fun opened the quest of your
own subjects ( all sorts of study and other
pursuits in the great hide-and-seek labyrinth
of the world), it would not be fair play to
exercise that authority which checkmates the
whole game. On the plane where the past,
present, and future and all the thousands of
suns and stars become your own Self, nay, all
objects are mere ripples and eddies in the
ocean of your knowledge, how could you care
for the Law examinations and wordly success?

54 IN WOODS OF GOD-REALIZATION

If you want to possess Divine clairvoyance,
you have to give up or rise above the very
plane of senses from which and for which you
seek clairvoyance.

A net was spread to catch fish. The
fish on falling in the net carried it off by
their stupendous weight. Vedantic new clairvo¬
yance is that “queer fish” which carries away
the net of desires entirely. Again the ordinary
method of acquiring knowledge is itself
a Vedantic process of clairvoyance inasmuch
as it entails an unconscious escape during
study from the sense of ego and duality.

It is said of Imam Ghizali, a Mohammedan
saint, that in his student life, one night, after
his usual strenuous work, he fell asleep in the
study. In a vision appeared to him Khwaja
Khizar, the God of Learning, offering to
convey all the knowledge of the world to him
by the ciimple act of breathing into his ears
and mouth. Imam Ghizali’s sound sense of
self-respect refused, and he asked instead the
boon of being provided with oil for his mid¬
night reading. He preferred the longer road

forest talks no. IV 55

to the short cut, not caring to steal into the
backdoor of heaven.

Do not counsel God how to behave ; do
not dictate your will to Him, just resign your
self unto Him, abandon the little self,
renounce spurious desires and thus will you
make your body and mind full of light All
true knowledge and education worth the name
comes from within, and not from books or
extraneous minds. Men of genius, the original
workers in the field of investigation, made
their discoveries and investigations, only
when they were merged in Thought Absolute,
far far above yearning or hurrying of any
sort, making their mentality and personality
free of any tendency to selfishness. They
made themselves transparent, the light of
knowledge shone through them, they shed
light on books, illumined libraries. This is
work. By work Rama never means plodding
drudgery. Work in Vedanta always means
harmonious vibrations with the Real Self and
attunement with the universe. This unselfish
union with the one Reality, which is the only
real work, is oftentimes labelled and branded

56 IN WOODS OF G0D-RliALI2ATI0N

as no work or idleness. Even a most
laborious undertaking, pursued in the spirit
of Vedanta, is found to be all pleasure and
play and no drudgery or burden. Having
nothing to do, be always doing” sums up
Vedantic teaching. O happy worker, success
must seek you, when you cease to seek
success.

To Vayu (Breeze).

“Naught stirrest around,
Yet hark tb that sound,
“SwoO"00** and Ahyu !

Oh, bodiless Vayu !

Pause and come hither
And whisper us whither
1 hou speedest along ?
Invisible wending,

The heather tops bending,
Before us thou sweepest,
Behind us thou creepest,
By our ears rushing,

O’er our cheeks brushing,

FORET TALKS NO. IV

57

Gliding by gholefully.
Murmuring dolefully*
Dirges of song,

With Swoo-oo and Ai-yu !
Oh ! Bodiless Vayu !

Pause and come hither
And whisper us whither
Thou speedest along ?**

FOREST TALKS
No. V
Love

** 1 am the origin and erd

Of all this changeful universe,

There is, oh mankind, naught beyond ;

For all is strung on Me alone
As are the beads upon the thread.

I am the freshness of the waters.

The splendour of the Sun and the Moon,
The essence of the Holy thought,

The sound of sounds, the man in men,

I am the life of life, oh man !”

“All true devotion’s centred power,

All being’s seed am I, the strength,
The wisdom of the strong and wise,

Lo, those who worship Me in truth,
Fulfilling in their acts my laws ;

Regarding me their aim and end,
Their hearts oh man, dwell then in love,

FOREST TALKS NO. V

59

And I to them will always be a guide
From out the surging flood of wrong and
migratory life.**

At whose behest doth work the intellects ?

At whose command does life subsist !

By whom enlightened grasps the mind ?

And what enlightens ears and eyes ?

The Ear of ear, the Mind of mind.

The Speech of speech, the Life of life,

The Eye of eye, the Self of self

That eats up Pain and Death as rice. '

All is Love
To know is to love Truth.

What is Truth ? Tat Twam Asi or Love
itself.

Step by step this Love manifested itself
through different stages as the force of
affinity, cohesion, gravitation, greed, desire,
ambition, aspiration. In different modes and
degrees of vibrations this Love appeared
being known as Magnetism, Electricity,
light, heat, sound, etc., the most accurate
conception of the material atoms being

60

IN WOODS OF GOD-REALIZATION

as “Centres of forces” Matter itself in
the ultimate analysis, resolves itself into
concentrated Love. All Law being nothing
more than the discovery of unity in diversity,
harmony in heterogeneity, unision in variety,
is itself a phase of Love. In your inquisitive
detectives, insidious spies, suspected friends,
menacing foes, betraying comrades, there is
no other Power at work but Love. No other
government rules the world than Love.
Carlyle said, “Hatred is inverted love.” Fear
is only congested love. Else how could
love conquer fear ? A man with a purse of a
thousand pounds in the woods is full of fear
only because of the loved gold. A free man
greets all he meets. A free person enjoys
the uniform circulation of love. Love being
the only force there is in reality, the
realization of identity with Love is salvation
and redemption and the conscious or uncon¬
scious struggle to. achieve that absolute
Love-Consciousness is ///<?, to be willing to
follow the line of quickest approach to that
goal is wisdom, and to that end to rightly
adjust the bifferent love-forces is virtue.

FOREST TALKS NO. V 6 {

There is no such thing as betrayal of
love nor is any body a traitor. No character
is unfaithful. No right have we to limit our
ideas as to the possibilities of man on the
ground of his. being a Jew, Mohammedan,
Sudra, or Brahman. Even the sworn slaves
of dogmas are bound to be redeemed. God,
Truth, must pull you out from the clasp of
conventionality and conservatism, even as
Krishna drew out the Gopikas from the homes
of their so-called husbands.

Man’s real Self is nothing but this
transcendental Love. You are love. Oh, you
are the universal Self. You are tlte Roseate
Dandy that flushes in the blooming cheeks of
Laili on the one side and appears at the
bleeding heart of Majnoon on the other. To
realize and feel this truth in practical life is
Purity. But he who begins to seek things
and hankers after them as not cne with him
rends his God-self twain and is thereby
impure. Shunning and curling up is not
Purity; resisting and avoiding beauty is
not Chastity. True Purity is that where
all beauty is absorbed in me and I feel and

62 IN WOODS OF GOD-REALIZATION

enjoy my spiritual oneness with all to such
an extent that to talk or think of meeting
any object, sounds like a painful hint of
separation.

“Speak to him, then, for He hears and Spirit to

Spirit can meet;

Closer is He than breathing and nearer than

hand or feet.

The sun, the moon, the stars, the hills, and the

plains.

Are not these, O Soul, the visions of him who

reigns ?*’
Tennyson*

Thy voice is on the rolling air,

I hear Thee where the waters run,

Thou standest in the rising sun
And in the setting, Thou art fair.

Far ofif Thou art and ever nigh
I hear Thee still and I rejoice,

1 prosper circled with Thy voice
I shall not lose Thee, though I die-

All that is, is good—God is that which
is fit, appropriate, apt. Now the world's
movement is nothing else but continuous
adaptation. So the world is nothing but a

FOREST TALKS NO. V

63

flow of good. Wherever people’s adaptation
to the past (conservatism) opposes re-adapta¬
tion to the running present, the irresistible
marching adaptation (harmony or God) is
accompanied by a noisy and dazzling show—
Revolution.

We cannot give up anything until we get
something else to take its place, and progress
must be gradual. Love and attachment are a
form of grasping and grabbling from one
stand-point, and nothing short of renunciation
from another stand-point. Love rises from
one object to another. The objects of love
keep changing all the time, and in every act
of unfoldment or development, it renounces a
good many old clingings. By slow degrees,
there comes at last a time when a person falls
(or rather rises) in love with Love itself and
the object of love turns out to be the Self of
each and all and the lover is tied back or
married and re-united to this—his one Self
Supreme. After this marriage (that is religion
again *Iigo‘ unite), the true lover finds
the whole universe in his embrace and every
object in his clasp. What can such an one

64 IN WOODS OF GOD REALIZATION

desire ? Can we desire the bride that is already
folded in our arms ?

When one realizes his own Self to be the
all, he cannot desire, but simply enjoys
everything as his. He looks at his work and
finds it good. Every object brings him joy
ineffable. Every creature pays him tribute
from clod to the cloud, from the minutest
atom to the mightiest sun, from the lowest
crawling vermin to the remotest shining star,
all declare his glory, ail sing praises,
Hallelujah. There is nothing different from
such an one.

Let Not The World Be Too Much
With You

I see two objects before me, sweet
and a maiden. The flower is dissected. In
the flower is found a force called cohesion,
keeping the different particles together, and
some other forces like heat, gravity,
magnetism, etc. And in the maiden all the
imaginable wonders are suppressed, especially
in that part of her body called the head.
Herein I find all space and all time including

FOREST TALKS NO. V

65

and embracing the whole universe. The
whole world is contained in a single ball
called the head. This universe is present in
the head as a mere idea, the whole world is a
mere idea in the head. If it were not for the
passing of this idea of the world from one
head to another, like the throwing of a ball
from one to another, the world would have
been no world. This hypnotic sleep or idea
of the world we pass on or fling from genera¬
tion to generation, and from country to
country, and this is the whole world, your
world, your idea, your doing. Let not this
ball be too much with you. It is your own
head-ball or foot-ball.

Renunciation alone leads to immortality—
And practical renunciation means throwing
off and casting overboard all anxiety, fear,
worry, hurry, trouble of mind by continually
keeping before your mental vision the tall¬
ness of the world and all-ness of your Real Self.
You have no duties to discharge, you are
bound to none, you are responsible to nobody,
you have no debit to pay. Assert your
individuality against all society and all

66 IN WOODS OF GOD-REALIZATION

nations and every thing. That is Vedanta.
Society, customs and convention, laws, rules,
regulations, criticisms, reviews, they can
never touch your Real Self. Even a tiny
slender column of water can mat(;h and
balance the pressure of the whole sea, says
Hydrostatics. O individual infinity, dare to
stand on your own feet, and you can hold
back the weight of the universe. Feel that.
Throwing off fear, renounce anxiety, dispel
the limited vulnerable ego. Giving this sense
to Om, chant it.

OM! OM!l OM!!!

FOREST TALKS
No. VI
Rest

The multifold demands of life and the
different claims on your physical and mental
powers are likely to keep you all the time
strained and in tension. If these outside
circumstances be allowed to keep you always
on the rack, you are digging an early grave
for yourself.

How to avoid it ? Rama does not
recommend the shirking of work or the giving
up of daily pursuits, but recommends to
cultivate a habit which will keep you ever in
rest inspite of strenuous, onerous, and trying
tasks. This advice is no other than Vedantic
renunciation. You have to keep yourself all
the time upon the rock of renunciation ; and
taking your stand firmly upon the vantage
ground, giving yourself up entirely to any

58 IN WOODS OF GOD-REALIZATION

Work that pressents itself, you will not be tired,
you will be equal to any duty.

To explain further. While at work,
between whiles, devote spare interval of a
moment or so to the thought that there is
but one reality, God, thy Self; and that as to
the body etc. you never had anything to do
with it. You are simply a witness, you have
nothing to do with the consequences or the
result. Thus contemplating you may close
your eyes, relax your muscles, and lay the
body perfectly at ease, unburdening yourself
of all thought. The more you succeed in
taking off the burden of thought from your
shoulders, the stronger you will feel.

Nerves keep up the vitality in the body,
and thought is also sustained by the nervous
system. The digestive process, the circul¬
ation of the blood, the growth of the hair, etc.,
depend ultim:‘ely upon the nervous action.
If your thought is distributed and you are
hurried and worried by all sorts of ideas, that
means too much burden upon the nerves.
This action of the nerves in the shape of
strenuous thought-exertion may be a gain on

FOREST TALKS NO. IV

<59

one side but it is a decided loss on the other.
Through restless thought and worry the vital
functions of the body suffer. If you want
to keep up your vitality, to preserve your
health, the weight of life to be borne easily
by the horse of nervous system, you ought
to make the burden of egoistic thoughts
lighter. Let not anxious thoughts and
worrying ideas suck the sap of your life. The
secret of perfect health and vigorous
activity lies in keeping your mind always
buoyant and cheerful, never worried, never
hurried, never borne down by any fear,
thought or anxiety.

The entire object of true education is to
make people not merely do the right things
but enjoy the right things—not merely
industrious but to love industry.

Most Important Advice

My cup is the hemisphere of heavens and
the sparkling light my wine.

Think it not that it is your duty to get
clothes, or to win anybody's love, to make

70

IN WOODS OF GOD-REALIZATION

anybody happy, or to achieve this worldly
aim or that. Discard all these aims and
objects, make it your profession, your busi¬
ness, your trade, occupation, vocation, the
aim and object of life to keep your own self
always peaceful and happy, independent of all
surrounding circumstances, irrespective of
gain and loss. Your highest duty in the
world laid upon your shoulders by God (your
religious duty) is to keep yourself joyful.
Your social duty, the demand of neighbours,
is to keep yourself well pleased, peaceful; the
duty having the greatest claim on you from
domestic relations, is to keep yourself cheer¬
ful ; and your duty to yourself demands of
you again to keep yourself happy in all states.
Be true to yourself and never mind anything
else in the world. All other things are
bound to bow down to you, yet what does it
matte; to you whether they bow down or not,
you are happy by yourself. To be dejected
and gloomy, is a religious, social, political,
and domestic crime ; and this is the only
crime you can commit, this is the only crime
which is at the root of all other crimes, falls.

FOREST TALKS NO. VI

71

and sins. Be full of serenity and dispassionate
tranquility, and you will find that all your
surroundings and environments will of course
and of force adjust themselves aright. It
is not your duty to worry or hurry about
any business. Your only occupation or duly
is to keep yourself self-contained, self-poised
and self^pleased. No duty upon us, no
burden upon our shoulders. You have no
responsibility to anybody but to yourself.
You are a heinous criminal to yourself if you
violate this most sacred law of Cheerfulness
and Peace. Let other people, when they get
up early in the morning, think that they
have duties before them as to rub and scrub
the rooms, to go to the office, or to do washing
or cooking or reading and writing or this and
that; but when you get up early in the
morning, address to yourself always in
Supreme happiness. The only duty you have
to do is this. This does not mean that you
have to shirk other work or neglect other
household employments. These things you
may feel as secondary matters of play and
these things you will have to do because your

72 IN WOODS OF GOD-REALIZATION

spiritual health will demand of you to be
doing something. But while doing anything,
remember that the so-called material work in
hand is quite immaterial. The really
bounden duty for you, is to keep youself self-
pleased. Students, listen, if you hang your
joy on the future results of examinations,
being content now to oscillate and vacillate
the gloom of suspense you will never be,
but always to be blessed.” Like comes to the
like. Have joy of God in you-right now
and the joy of success must gravitate towards
you. That is the law.

Laugh and the world laughs with you,
Weep and you weep alone :

For this brave old earth must borrow its mirth,
It has sorrow enough of its own :

Sing and the hills will answer,

Sigh ! it is lost in the air :

The echoes do bound a joyful sound,

But shrink trom voicing care.

Rejoice and menill seek you,

Grieve and they turn and go ;

They want full measure of all your pleasure,
But they do not want your woe.

FOREST TALKS NO. Vi

73

Be glad and your friends are many^

Be sad and you lose them all.

There is none to decline your nectared wine,
But alone you must drink life’s gall.

Feast, and your halls are crowded ;

Fast, and the world goes by ;

Succeed and give, and it helps yon live,

But no one can help you die.

There is room in the halls of pleasure
For a long and lordly train,

But one by one we must all file on

Through the narrow aisles of pain.”

Ella Wheeler Wilcox,

“ Happiness is the only good.

The time to be happy is now.

The place to happ is here.

The way to be happy is to make others so.
Summing up

Rama brings to your special attention
two important points :—

1. —Denial of little self.

2. —Positive assertion of Real Self.

First—Denial, according to Vedanta, is

perfect relaxation, relief, rest, renuncciation.
Whenever you can spare time, just throw
down your body on the chair or betstead ns

74 IN WOODS OF GOD-REALIZATION

if you never carried that burden or weight
and you had nothing to do with it and it were
quite as much a stranger to you as any piece
of rock. Let the body lie down for a while
stretched like a dead carcase, altogether
unsupported by your strained will or thought.
Let the mind be relaxed of, all care and
anxiety for the body or anything. Give up
and deny all desire, ambition or expecta¬
tion. This is denial or relaxation. Let your
property rest on the ground and not weigh
down your heart.

Stcond—Godhead. Make God’s will your
own. Defend His purpose as if it were your
purpose whether for weal or for woe; feel
yourself above the body and its environments,
above the mind and its motives, above the
world and its opinions. Feel yourself to be
the all-pervading Supreme, the Sun of suns ;
above causation, above phenomena ; and one
with the all Bliss, the free Rama. Chant
OM and sing OM in any tune or tunes that
naturally and spontaneously occur to you.
Thus will all causes of complaints and
maladies leave your presence of themselves.

FOREST TALKS NO. VI

75

The world and your surrounings are exactly
what you think them to be, Let not the
world lay heavy upon your heart. Every
day and night meditate upon the truth that
all the opinions and society of the world is
simply your .own idea and that you are the
real power whose breath or mere shadow the
whole world is. The reason why you do
not attain to the height of health, is that you
are more courteous and polite to the fickle,
unsetted, hazy judgement of others than to
your own nearest neighbour, the Real Self
Supreme. Live on your own account, not
for the opinions of others. Be free. Try to
please the one Lord, the Self, The One
without a second, the real husband, owner,
master, your own inner God. You will not
in any case be able to satisfy the many, the
public, the majority, and you are under no
obligations to satisfy the hydra-headed mob.
You are your own ' architect. Sing to your¬
self as if you were all alone and no listeners
were by. When your own Self is pleased,
the public must be satisfied. That is the

Law.

16 IN WOODS OF GOD-REALIZATION

Whoever dwells among thoughts dwells
in the reign of delusion and disease—and
though he appears wise and learned, yet his
wisdom and learning, are as hollow as a
piece of timber eaten out by white ants.
Therefore though thought should gird you
about, you need not be tied to it, as a man
takes off his coat when hot; and a skilful
workman lays down his tool when done
• with.

“While at work your thought is to be
absolutely concentrated in it, undistractcd by
anything whatever irrelevant to the matter
in hand—rounding away like a great engine
with giant power and perfect economy—no
wear and tear of friction or dislocation of
parts owing to the working of different forces
at the same time.

Then^ when the work is finished and
there is no more occasion for the use of the
machine, it must stop equally absolutely—
stop entirely—no worrying—as if a parcel of
boys were allowed to play their devilments
with a locomotive as soon as it was in the
shed—and the man must retire into that

FOREST TALKS NO. VI

77

reign of the consciousness where his true
Self dwells.”

OM !

“ 0 my sons ! O too dutiful
Towards God not of me,

Was not I enough beautiful ?

Was is hard to be free ?

For, behold, I am with you, am in you,

And if yuu look forth now and see,

I bid you but be}

1 have need not of prayer ;

I have need of you free

As your mouths of mine air ;

That my heart may be greater within me
Beholding the fruits of me fair
I that saw where ye trod
The dim paths of the night
Set the shadow called God
In your skies to give light;

But the morning of manhood is risen
And the shadowless soul is in sight.

The tree many rooted
That swells to the sky
With frontage red-fruited
The Life-tree am I J

78 IN WOODS OF GOD REALIZATION

In the buds of your Jives is
The sap of my leaves. Ye shall live and not die
Bat the Gods of your fashion
That take and that give.

In their pity and passion
That scourage and forgive,

They are worms that are bred in the dark
That falls off ; they shall die and not live.

FOREST TALKS
No. VIT
Married Life

Just as the Spectacles are

Through the spectacles we see every¬
thing, but they are no burden to the eyes.
Instead of obstructing the vision, they aid it.
Instead of being a screen between our eyes
and other objects, they are the elucidator of
these objects. So should the relation be
between husband and wife. Instead of the
one being a hindrance, shut up as it were by
the other, each is to see the whole universe
through the other. This can only be done
if the union be spiritual and on the Vedantic
understanding, and on no other conditions,
where both of them see the soul and spirit
and Atman, rising above the personality,

80 IN WOODS OF GOD-REALIZATION

personal regards and surroundings, manners
and customs, passions and habits.

As the breath is so close to us but we
never feel it, so should the married life be in
perfect understanding. No burden I one is
not to hang heavy upon the heart of the
other. Both free ! With either party the
thought of the second party is not to be a
kind of drawback. At present in the case of
married people, the thought of the wife is a
hindrance to the spiritual progress of the
man. The tliought of the husband is a great
obstacle and burden upon the woman.

In india, men and women throw antimony
in their eyes. That is used to strengthen
the vision ; it remains in the eyes, but is does
not obstruct the vision. The very moment
it makes itself felt, there is something wrong
with it. Just so when you feel tlie stomach,
there is something wrong with it, That is
the law.

There was a question put to Ram by the
former wife of Rama, “Do you remember
me ?” Rama said “No, Rama never
remembers.” Remembrance comes in the

FOREST TALKS NO. YU

81

case of a person who is different from you.
Do you remember your eyes, your nose, your
hands ? Never. They arc one with you. When
one party becomes one with the other, being
one and the same and identical, he cannot
remember. These things must be made clear.

When we receive a letter from a friend,
we like the letter, we make much of it. We
love the letter because of the friend. So
should the husband and wife be a kind of
letter from God. The body of the husband
should be a kind of letter or picture from God.
So she may love his body and respect his body,
but after all, this body should simply be a
letter, a picture, a something which is not
the thing in itself. Thus she sees God
through him, A symbol of Divinity, a
picture of God, let the husband become. If
at night the bodies meet, then in the day
time the woman is to make spiritual union.
If simultaneously with the bodily union at
nighti the spiritual union is not felt, then in
the day time she is to fill up the gap. With
every embrace is to be associated the thought
that she is accepting Divinity. Oh Light,

82 IN WOODS OF GOD-REALIZATION

come to me. I embrace Light. You might
call it Happiness ; you might call it perfect
purity or union with the whole Universe.
Oh Divinity, Wisdom, come to me, T accept
you. Thus everything should be made a
symbol of Divinity. If it was not felt at
night, it can be supplied in the day time.
You may simply feel that oneness and
marriage. To embrace Divinity, Divinity,
Divinity. To feel the whole universe as
one’s body. To be the all, the all, the all.
This idea is to be constantly kept in mind.
Whereas on the one hand Vedanta requests
you to dispense with all thought of bodily
union, and never let the one body be a
burden upon the other, on the other hand it
requests you to be continually at one with
the real Spirit. All the time you meditate on
the thought that Divinity, power, harmony,
perfect divine love, universal harmony are in
me. I am That, That am 1. He is Me and I
am He. Then you have to see the real Self,
whom you married, your own Self in the
plants, in the trees, in the river, in everything
that am I.

FOREST TALKS.

No. Vlll.

The snares of 99.

They say, “Don't fall into the snares of
99.” What does that mean ?

A man with his wife used to live very
happily in their small hut. Very happy they
were.

He used to work all day long and get a
pittance to make the two ends meet. He had
no other worldly ambition, no other desire,
no feeling of envy or hatred, a good honest
worker he was. He had a neighbour who was
a very wealthy man. This wealthy man was
always immersed in anxiety, he was never
happy. A Vedantin monk once visited the
houses of the rich man and his poor
neighbour, and told the rich man that the

84 IN WOODS OF GOD-REALIZATION

cause of his worry and anxiety was his
possessions. His possessions possessed him
and kept him down ; his mind was wandering
from this object to that. The monk pointing
to the poor neighbour said, “Look at him, he
owns nothing, but on his face.you find the
bloom of happiness, and you find his muscles
so strong and his arms so well built. He
goes about in' such a happy, cheerful, jolly
mood, huming tunes of joy.” This happiness
the rich man could never enjoy. He had his
property fashioned and moulded in the way
other people liked it. Then the rich man
wanted to test the truth of the monk’s
remarks. According to the advice of
the monk, the rich man stealthily threw
into the house of the poor man $ 99. The
next day they saw that no fire was lit in the
house of the poor man. In the house of
the poor man there used to be a good
fire and they used to cook certain things,
purchased with the money, earned by dint of
the poor man’s labour. That night they
found no fire in the house, they did not
cook anything, they starved that night. The

FOREST TALKS NO. VIII

85

next morning the monk taking the rich man
with him, went to the poor man and enquired
as to the cause of his not lighting fire in his
house. The poor man could make no excuse
in the presence of the monk, he had to tell
the truth. He said that before that he used
to earn a few cents and with those few cents
they used to purchase some flour and vege¬
tables, and cook and eat them, but on that
day when they lit no fire they received a
little box containing $ 99. When they saw
the $ 99, the idea came into their minds that
there was only one dollar wanting to make it
full S 100. Now in order to make up that
$ 1, they found that they might forego food
on alternate days, and thus they might scrape
up some cents and in a week or so would save
up S 1 and thus they would have 3 100.
Hence they were to starve. This is the secret
of the niggardliness of the rich people. The
more they get, the poorer they become.
When they get S 99, they want more if they
have $ 99,000. they want S 1,00,000.

86 '

IN WOODS OF GOD-REALIZATION

HE HAS AN AXE TO GRIND
Benjamin Franklin in his Autobiography
relates an experience of his boyhood. When
he was a boy, he was going to school in
Philadelphia, and one day on his way to school
he happened to see a blacksmith at work.
In those days, the machinery was not in such
a high state of development as it is to-day.
The blacksmith was working in his shop.
Just like a curious boy, Benjamin stopped
at the shop and was looking at the man at
work. Children lose themselves in any
thought that comes up before them. He had
a satchel in his hand and he was just going
to school, but he forgot all about his school
to enjoy the sight of the working blacksmith.
The blacksmith noticed the interest of the
boy. He was sharpening his tools and knives.
The assistant of the blacksmith having gone
on an errand, was absent. On seeing the
little boy taking so much interest in the work,
h e asked him to come upto him, Benjamin
moved up and the blacksmith said, “What
a nice boy, what a fine boy, how intelligent
you are !” Benjamin was puffed up and felt

forest talks no. viii 87

flattered, and when he noticed the beaming
smiles on the face of Benjamin, he asked liim
if he would take the trouble to help him in
turning the grindstone. Benjamin imme¬
diately began to do that work. Children are
naturally very active and they want to do
something which will keep their muscles
employed. You can send them to the other
end of the world if you can tickle their
humour. While Benjamin was working at
the grindstone, the blacksmith went on
humouring and flattering him. The boy went
on doing the work. In the meantime, he
whetted a number of knives and axes. By
that time the little boy felt fatigued and he
remembered his school time and recitation
hours, and wanted to leave the shop. But
there was that man upon him with his
flattery and humouring spirit saying, “Oh
good boy, 1 know you are never punished in
school, you are so fine, so smart. What the
other boys take three hours to accomplish,
you can do in one hour. The school master
never gets angry with you, you are so good.*’
One by one the swords were whetted and

88 IN WOODS OF GOD-REALIZATION

when one was half done, Benjamin wanted
to leave, but he could not. The recitation
hours commenced at 10 and he was released
at 12. He went to school and was flogged for
being late. He was tired and his arms
were sore. For a week he had to suffer the
consequences. • He could not prepare his
lessons. Ever afterwards when any one
flattered him, the thought came to his mind,
“He has an axe to grind.” After this event
never was Benjamin Franklin entrapped in
the snares of flattery.

FOREST TALKS
No. TX

Hoarding of Wealth

A monk had some copper cents and was
about to give them away to some boys,
Many poor people came to him to get
them, but he would not give them. Finally,
there came before the monk a king seated
on an elephant. The monk threw the copper
pieces into the howdah on the top of the
elephant where the king was seated. The
king was astonished at this unexpected act of
the monk. The monk said the money was
for him, the poorest man. The king enquired
how he could be the poorest man. The
monk said he was the poorest man, because
of his possessions and of his continual hunger
and thirst for more kingdoms. Hence he was
the poorest man.

A man was fX)llecting heaps of money in

90 IN WOODS OF GOD-REALIZATION

a box. A monk passed by. On being invited
to the house of this rich man who was
hoarding the money in large boxes and steel
chests, the monk asked the reason of this
act. The wealthy man said, “Sir, what do
you care, you are fed by the public, and even
if they do not feed you, you do not care a
straw for your body, but for us it is necessary
to lay by some money, so that it may be of
use to us at the right time.” The monk was
silent. The next day the wealthy man had
to go and see the monk in the rotten cottage
where he lived. When the wealthy man
came to the cottage of the monk, he found
that the monk had with great labour dug a
big pit and in that pit he was throwing
beautiful, round stones, heaping stones upon
stones in that pit, and had been labouring all
day long in that manner. When the rich
man came up, he said, “Swami, Swami,
what are you doing here ?” The monk said,
‘T am collecting these beautiful pieces of
stone, don^t you sec how round they are ?”
The wealthy man smiled and said, “Why are
you collecting them ? Here is a whole

FOREST TALKS NO. IX

91

mountain full of these stones. What is the
use of collecting them ?” The monk said,
“I preserve them for the time of need.
I may require them sometime and it may be
that all these mountains will be washed off
the surface of the earth, so I will collect
them and store them away.** The wealthy
man answered, ‘ How is that possible ? How
can the stones be washed away from the
earth ?” Then the monk jumped upon the
wealthy man and said, “You taught me this
lesson. O fool, there never will come a time
when your food will not be laid before you
by God—What is the use of just wasting your
energy and lavishing your precious tune in
this laying by of gold and silver ? Learn a
lesson from me. Life is not for this waste
for this spendthrift purpose. It is not to
be wasted in such petty, sordid cares and
anxieties.**

FOREST TALKS
No. X

Querries about God

Once upon a time a Qazi or Governor
happened to come to a certain Emperor, under
the Mohammedan rule. The Emperor, who
honoured the Qazi so much because of his
religious pretentions, wanted to examine his
capabilities. He was no scholar himself, but
the following questions which he was going
to put to the Qazi, were suggested to him
by somebody else who wanted to get the
Governorship. This Qazi came before the
Emperor and he was asked: ‘*In which
direction does God keep his face, where does
God sit, what does He eat, what does He do T*
The king told him if he could answer the
questions to the king’s satisfaction, he would
be promoted. The Qazi thought that the
questions coming from the king must be very

FOREST TALKS NO. VI

93

difficult. He knew how to humour and
flatter the king by praising him. and then
asked him for an interval of eight days to
answer these questions.

For eight days the Qazi went on thinking
and thinking, but could come to no conclusion.
How could he answer to the king's
satisfaction ! Finally the eighth day came,
but the answers to the questions did not
come to the Qazi. He then pretended to be
sick in order to gain time. The Qazi*s servant
( Pajee ) approached him and wanted to know
what the matter was. He said, “Off with
you, don’t bother me, I am about to die.”
The servent said, “Please let me know what
the matter is. I will die rather than you
should be subjected to any pain.” The
difficulty was then explained to him. This
servant occupied a very lowly position, one
that was not considered at all respectable,
that of slacking lime or mortar. But in
reality he was a pupil of the Qazi and a
learned man. He knew the ansWw»s to the
questions and he said he would go and
answer them, and the Qazi should write on a

94 IN WOODS OF GOD-REALIZATION

piece of paper ordering him to go, and if his
answers were not to the satisfaction of the
king, he would die and not his master. The
Qazi hesitated to do this, but just at this
moment a me.«senger of the king approached
him, and he trembled and trembled. So he
told the servant to go. He put on his best
clothes which consisted of mere rags. He
was a Vedantic Brother. In India, the kings
always go to the Swamis and learn a great
deal of wisdom and knowledge. This servent
( Pajee ) fearlessly approached the king and
said, "Sir, what do you want? What do you
wish to ask ?’* The king said, “Could you
answer the questions given to your master T*
The Pajee said, “I will answer them, but
you know he who answers them is a teacher,
and he who asks them is the pupil. We
expect you to be a true .Mohammedan and
confirm to the laws of the sacred Scriptures.
According to the law, I must have the seat
of honour and you must sit lower down than
myself.” So the king gave him some beautiful
clothes to put on and he sat on the king’s
throne; and the king sat down on the steps.

FOREST TALKS NO. X

95

But the king said, “There is one thing more,
if your answers are not satisfactory to me,

I will kill you.” The Pajee said, “Of course,
that was understood.’*

Now the first question which was put
was “Where does God sit ?” If he answered
it literally, the king would not have under¬
stood it, so he said, ‘Bring'a cow.” A cow
was brought. He said, “Does the cow have
any milk ?” The king said, “Yes, of course.”
“Where does the milk sit ?” ■ In the

udder ” answered the king. “That is wrong,”
said the Pajee, “The milk pervades the' whole
cow. Let the cow go.” Then some milk'
was brought. “Where is the butter ? Is the
butter present in the milk ?’' They said,
“It is.” “But where is it,” said the Pajee,
“let me know.” They could not tell. Then he
said, “If you cannot tell where the butter sits,
still you have to believe it is there, in fact,
the butter is everywhere.” Similarly, God is
everywhere throughout the whole universe.
Just as the butter is everywhere present in
the milk, the milk is everywhere present in
the cow. In order to get the milk, you have

96 IN WOODS OF GOD REA.LIZATION

to milk the cow, so in order to get God you
have to milk your own heart. The Pajee
said, “Are you answered, O king,” and the
king said, “Yes, that is right.” Now all
those people, who said God was living the
seventh or eighth heaven, fell in the estimation
of the king. They were nothing to him their
position was not correct.

Then came the next question “In which
direction docs God look—to the East, West,
North, or South ? ” This was also very
queer, but these people looked upon God as a
personality. He said, “All right, bring a
light.” A candle was brought and lit. He
showed them that the candle did not face the
North, South, East or West, but was every¬
where equal. The king was satisfied. Simi¬
larly, God is the candle in your heart which
faces in all directions.

Now came the question, “ What does
God do ?” He said, ‘All right.” and told
the king to go and bring the Qazi. When
his master came, he was astonished to find
the servant seated on the king^s throne.
Then he told the Qazi to sit at the place that

FOREST TALKS NO. X

97

the Pajec was to occupy, and the kins to sit
in the Cazi’s place, and he himself on the
king's throne. “This," he said, *‘is the way
—God docs constantly keep things moving.
Changing the Pajee into king, the king into
Qazi, and Qazi into Pajee." This is what
is being continually done in the world, one
family rising into ascendancy, then becoming
unknown and another taking its place. For
a time one man is highly honoured, then
another takes his place, and so on, day after
day and year after year. And so on in this
world change is going on all the time. From
that day the Pajee was made a Qazi.

FOREST TALKS
No. XI

Never be disturbed

The following Story was told by the clerk, a
slender, tall young man, one of the travellers in
Canterbury Tales, whose turn it was to entertain
his listeners*

In a certain country, there was a very
noble scholarly, and majestic prince who had
just inherited a throne. Years and years
passed on, yet he did not marry. The people
were very anxious that he should marry, as
they wished for an heir to the throne. They
persistently urged him to choose a wife
and he finally consented to do so, providing
they would allow him to make his own
selection. You know, in that country no
freedom was allowed to any one, even in the
matter of love and marriage. They were
bound by custom. He wanted to marry

FOREST TALKS NO. XI

99

according to his own wishes. His subjects,
thinking if they did not consent to his will
he would remain a bachelor all his days,
thought it advisable to let him make his
choice. He ordered his courtiers and officers
to make preparations for a great wedding
festival. Everything was prepared in a most
royal and magnificent style. With great
eclat on the appointed day the army was
ready. Everyone was arrayed in his most
gorgeous clothes and drove in the best
carriages and victorias. The king rode in the
middle, one half of the army on one side
and the other half on the other. They went
on according to the king’s orders, not
following any particular road. They went
through very deep, dense forests. They said
among themselves, * What is the king going
to do, is he going to marry a lake, or stock
and stones ?” They were astonished. They
went on and finally came to a place in the
forests where there was a small hut, and near
that hut was a beautiful, clear, crystal
lake. On the banks of the lake they found
beautiful, magnificent, natural orchards, and

100 IN WOODS OF GOD-REALIZATION

from the branches of,one of the trees there
hung a hammock or trapeze, on which an old
man was lying. They said, he going to
marry that old man ?’* One half of the army
passed on and when the king\s elephant
reached that place, the king ordered halt.
Immediately there appeared on the scene a
beautiful, fair, lovely maiden who was gently
swinging the hammock on which her father
w'as lying.

The king, before he came to the throne,
had been to that forest many times. He
had w'atched the girl and always found her
most dutiful; she cared for her father most
faithfully, brought water and bathed him
und fed him. She did all sorts of rubbing
and scrubbing work. But while doing this
work she was always happy bright, merry
a:.d cheerful as a carolling robbin. This
happy disposition of the girl impressed itself
on the king and he vowed to marry her if
he ever married. The girl gazed in amaze¬
ment at all this grand array, little thinking
that the man, who rode on horseback by
their door many times before, was this king.

I-OREST TALKS NO. XI

101

She asked her father what this magnificent
spectcale meant. Her father told her that
it was a bridegroom going to a distant
country for a princess to be his wife. Now
the king alighted from his elephant, went up
to the old man and fell at his feet as is the
Oriental custom. The old man said to him,
“My son, what do you want ?" The face
of the king brightened. He said, “I want
you to make me your son-in-law.” The old
man’s heart leaped with joy. His ecstasy
knew no bounds. He said, “You are mistaken,
king, you are mistaken. How could you
wish to marry the daughter of a poor
mendicant ? We arc poor, very poor.” The
king said he loved no one as much as this
lovely girl. The father said if such was the
case then she was his. This parent was a
Vedantic monk and he had imparted his
knowledge to his daughter. He now told the
king that he had no dowry to give bis child,
the only thing he could give was his blessing.
The king then presented his bride with all
sorts of beautiful clothes which he requested
her to put on. She accordingly did so. But

102 IN WOODS OF GOD-REALIZATION

the girl did not go to the king empty handed.
She had a dowry. What was it ? Into one
of the caskets the king gave her, in which was
to be kept jewels, she put in her dress of rags
which she wore while living with her father.
Now the old man was left alone, one servant
was left at his disposal. He wanted nothing
else from the king.

The king took his bride to the palace.
At first his courtiers did not like her as
she was low bom. These noblemen and
aristocrats wished the king to marry their
daughters or nieces, and here they were all
superceded by this low girl. They were very
jealous of her. How could they pay homage
to this low-bom girl ? But the new queen
by her sweet temper, gentle ways, and lovely
manners charmed them all. By and by they
all began to love her very dearly. She was
always calm and tranquil, never disturbed or
ruffled about anything, no matter what the
circumstances might be. After a year or so a
daughter was born to the queen. A beautiful
baby girl. How happy were the king and
queen! When the child was three or four

FOREST TALKS NO. X

103

years old> the king came to the queen and
told her that there was going to be a revolt
in the kingdom, a mutiny-which was most
undesirable. The queen inquired the reason
of such a condition of affairs. Her husband
replied that the officers and ministers were
jealous when he married her, and now they
could not bear the idea of this girl inheriting
the throne, being low-born on her mother’s
side. They wanted blue blood and wanted
their king to adopt the child of one of the
prime ministers. But the king said that if
they did so, when the girl grew up in all
probability, there would be an antipathy
between them. So in order to obviate that
result, he had been meditating and meditating
and had finally arrived at the conclusion
that the best thing to be done was to have
the girl killed. Then Griselda, which was
the name of the queen, made this most
characteristic answer to the king. This answer
typifies her conduct and duty towards the
king. She said, “You know from the day
1 came, I had no desire of my own to enjoy
this throne with you. I have made my will

104 IN WOODS OF GOD-REALIZATION

and desire entirely yours. My individuality
and. personality is merged in yours and it is
kept up only so far as it may be of service to
you and not to obstruct your purpose. If it is
your will that the daughter be taken away, let
her be taken away. I have never called the
daughter mine in my heart of hearts.** The
daughter was taken away at the dead of night
and after a few hours the king returned
and said the child had been given away
to the executioners to be slaughtered. The
queen was collected, calm, quiet, and cheerful
as if nothing had happened. This is Vedanta.
Never be disturbed by any outward
circumstances.

The king now said that everyone would
be pleased. After a year or so, there was a
a little boy born. This child was loved by
everyone. The boy grew up to the age of
five or six years, then again there was an
uproar. The king said that as circumstances
arc at present, it is advisable to kill this
child also. If the child remains, there will be
a great civil war ; so to preserve the national
peace the child ought to be killed. The

FOREST TALKS NO. XI

105

queen was again smiling and cheerful, and
said, “My Real Self is the whole nation, I have
nothing personal. I am like the sun, I give
away. Like the sun we do not receive, we
should give away. When we have no clingings
and are not attached to anything, what can
happen that will mar our happiness ? The sun
goes on giving away all the time, but still
constantly shining. That boy was also taken
away.”

After a few years the third child was
born, and when about three or four years of
age, was taken away in the same way.

Now, how did the queen keep up her
spirits ? Since the day she came to the
palace, she would retire into a solitary
chamber wherein she had preserved her old
rags. That was her solitary chamber, and
there stripping herself of all her beautiful
clothes she used to put on those old rags,
and in this simple dress she would realize
That I am. And in the medicanfs dress
she would feel and realize her Divinity.
Shakespeare says, “Uneasy lies the head that
wears the crown.” She knew in her heart of

106 IN WOODS OF GOD-REALIZATION

hearts that she was the woman carolling
and singing on the banks of the lake. Here
she was confined in the palace of the king
and bereaved of her freedom and liberty, but
she^id not. make herself miserable she did
not allow herself to get entangled in affairs.
She-was not attached to this or that; her
Real. Self was continually held aloof from
the surrounding circumstances. She was
continually merged in Divinity. In this
■rway she purified herself by' casting aside
all attachments and clingings, no responsi¬
bilities she had, she was bound to nobody, no
duties^ Thus it is, wherever you are in
dumps or in blues, strip yoUrself of all
attachments, connections, desires, wants,
•end needs. Free you are.' In this way the
queen always kept herself up during her
-Stay in the king's palace.

One night the king approached her and
• said tfhatit would not do for them to go on
killing their sons and daughters all the time,
and he did not like the- idea’of adopting
a child. So after thinking the matter over,
he had come to the conclusion that it vias

/

FOREST TALKS NO. XI

107

best for him to marry again arid thus peace
would be restored. The queen consented,
willingly because she never derived her happi¬
ness from the king,-her, happiness came from ■
her own Self, andmot from others., She got all
the pleasure from the ,God within, not frotn-
husband, father, and children. -. The king was
amazed at her happiness and asked . her what
she would like, to do. She.told him his will
was her will, Hje told hen that if sh? remained,
the harmony might be broken, and it was best
for her to go away. Immediately the beauti¬
ful clothes were taken oflf and the old rags, the
mendicant’s dress, put -on again, and she left
the palace. She,^was cheerful and happy and
went to her father, who was also as happy as
ever. The servant of the king, who was left
with the old man, was immediately sent back
to the king. '

One day the king passed the hut with the
intention of sympathizing with- her, but
when he saw her chewful ..smiling counte¬
nance, he saw that there was no <Jccasion to
do so. He then asked hex:, if she would, come
and receive the new bride. She willingly

j*

r;»■ •

108 IN WOODS OF GOD-REALIZATION

consented. She planned and arranged
everything in ■ such a lovely way that the
magistrates and their wives were astonished
at the beauty of the arrangements. According
to the arrangements made, the bride had to
come to the king with a great army and a
magnificent dowry of gold and jewels. She
came with great pomp and glory and was
received most royally by Griselda and the
' other ladies of the king’s court at his request.
When Griselda saw the new bride, she loved,
kissed, and embraced her as if she had been
her mother. The ladies with Griselda were
astonished at the beauty of the new bride,
but were more astonished at the moral
beauty of the old queen. The new bride
brought with her her two little brothers.
According to the custom of that country, the
noble ladies and aristocratic chiefs had to
enter the palace and enjoy a great feast.
Griselda presided over the ceremonies.
When the people saw the calm, peaceful,
placid manners of their former queen, their
hearts relented and tears came into their
eyes. She was to leave and retire to the

FORES! TALKS NO. XI 109

hut of her father after the ceremonies. But
as they went on eating, all their feelings of
sorrow for the queen soon vanished and they
forgot all about her. But when she was
bidding them good-bye and telling the king
if he ever needed her again not to hesitate to
call on her, the hearts of the gentle ladies
relented and they burst into tears. They
repented of their hard-heartedess. They
said, “ You are not the daughter of a
mendicant, you are the daughter of God.”
Then they told how this queen had permitted
her children to be murdered in order to
preserve the peace of the country, and the
new queen also began to weep. She said,
“Your daughter and your sons were murdered
and I have come here wading through a
stream of blood.” Then they began to rebuke
the king. All were present, the new bride and
the queen who was about to depart. The
king then rose up and said, ** O officers,
magistrates, and noble ladies, you are all
weeping and crying with the exception of
Griselda alone. I am also weeping with
feelings of mingled pleasure and pain, I do

110 IN WOODS OF GOD-REALIZATION

not blame you Q people, ye are my children f
my eyes are filed with tears, but they are
not tears of sorrow, but tears of joy and
gladness. Let your tears be also' tears of

joy.” Then turning to Griselda he said,
“Be of good cheer and happy, happy you are
alone in the whole kingdom.” Now it seem.s
that the new bride was the daughter 6‘f the'
king of the adjoining country, but she wa^
his daughter by adoption only, and alsb
her little brothers. These children as
orphans fell in the way of that king, and
he on account of their beauty loved them
and reared them as his own. These ’ three
children were the children of the king
and Griselda, as the executioners, to whom
they were given to be killed, did not have
the heart to do the deed and took them
to this country. Now all these things were'
explained to the people, And when the king
of this adjoining country saw thesfe beautiful
children in the hands of those dark 'Coloured
executioners, he thought they must be
children of some king and he reared them as
his own. Of course tht king could hot marry

FOREST TALKS NO. XI 111

Jiis own daughter, so to the happiness of
Griselda remained the queen and her
' children inherited the throne.. So you see,
God is always very grateful. He pays His
debts with interest.

Let such be the royal resignation of
things in Love by every married woman.
In India such are called Pativrata and
PatniwaiCy which means that woman is to
live in her husband and her husband is to
live in his wife. The woman is to see
God in her husband. She is to give away
her body and mind to her husband, and her
husband is to give himself to God in her.
There is nothing personal, nothing selfish.
A marriage ceremony in India always takes
place by the river side in the open air.
A lovely breeze blowing and the sun over
head. Here you see the idea is that the
woman is to take up the hand of the man
and the man taking up her hand, is giving
both to God. Just as Griselda had no
attachment, women have to give themselves
up to God, Atman.

Let men do the same. Married life

112 IN WOODS Of GOD-REALIZATtON

cannot but be happy if the husband were to
be lost in his wife and the wife were to be
lost in the husband. It is the identity of
personal life that makes Love and Life really
enjoyable.

FOREST TALKS
No. XII

Pranayama and Will Power
Rama lost in Ecstacy !!

The real Self does not incarnate, only
the subtle self does ; the real God is above
incarnations. The Universe is my body, all
air is my breath, trees are my hair, rivers
are my veins, mountains are my bones!

In some places long twilight exists, in
others the Sun jumps upon the horizon, You
may linger in intermediate places or fly, that
depends entirely upon your will, which choice
you make. Desires are energy—energy of
light, heat, electricity, sound, different mani¬
festations. Matter is proved to be a form of
Energy. Leibnitz considers atoms centres of
force, solid matter is also my will. Ice is water,
water also is water, form I am, I am also
dweller in form. You are everything. Wake
up to that consciousness. The Philosophy of
Yoga must seek you, everything comes to you.

114 IN WOODS OF GOD-REALIZATION

People are much misled by the spinal column,
they lose the main track, go inside the alleys.
If you place figure 8, one over another, there
arc holes in continual column which form
two -canals. Books lay stress on opening
these canals. To a man who had worked and
read for twelve years to effect this, Rama told
the secret Just as he came to-day, he said
that he had during this short time achieved
all, and was nearer the goal than ever. People
lead themselves astray who dwell on such
things as the opening of Sushmana. The
food gets into the stomach, unites with the
oxygen, works its way through the body, gains
gastric juice, travels through the alimentary
canal, it is not necessary to understand the
transformations. As the food takes care of
itself, so when a man desires Realization,
‘‘ Raja Yoga ” does you no good. Exert
yourself in the right way it will surely be
opened unto you. Control breath, waste not
your time upon meaningless things, processes
do you no good, the control of Prana is not to
control the mind ; based upon these lines no
man can concentrate his mind, suspended

FOREST TALKS No, XII

115

breath can have no control over mind ! false
Logic. Every Geometrician wants to force
the fact upon others that control of Prana
means control of mind ; control mind, and
Prana will be controlled.

Rama began the other way, Rama failed
to look at the matter in the common way
despite admonitions ; he controlled the mind,
breath followed. Once he bathed, plunged,
sank into a tank. Friends present also bathed,
and plunged into water but came out, waited
for Rama ; he was not on the list, they
thought him drowned, or that the alligator
had eaten him up. They were alarmed. Rama
came up and amazed them that control of
breath could be effected through the Will.
Try to realize seated in the essence of the
Real Self and become one with God. Breath
is a poor, mean servant of yours, you control
breath of the Universe, Dehypnotize your¬
self ; the mother hypnotizes the child when
she whispers, “Oh Johnnie,*' in his ear, ‘Oh
Georgie!” and makes him Johnnie and
Georgia through the body.

Wake up Divine consciousness I Master of

U6 IN WOODS OF GOD-REALIZATION

the Universe, the Ruler of spheres I the
principal thing is to realize. Sun of suns !
Light of lights ! the same am I ! Why are you
man, woman, beggar or king or poor wretch ?
You have felt it yourself and you are it. Fee!
yourself God and you will be God. A house
takes long to build only a short time to raze.

You have taken a long time to create your

dungeon, raze it! God of gods ye are !

Raise yourself up into the true Self! Throw
yourself into the Light of lights ! See whole
worlds spread out before you! While the
rising Sun is below the horizon, a suitable
time in India, the view elevates, once there
you can mount into delectable mountains.
Just as we strike a pencil for first rise,

when risen we give a sharp blow, and throw
it away into the atmosphere, raise it and
make it fiy ; so raise the mind in that way
into the atmosphere, after which it is easy
for it to run along until it is God in the
highest heaven. The impulse given through
bird^s songs, breezes* blowing, streams* mur¬
muring. let it soar, chant OM, sing in the
language of feeling. Look at the first Sun as

FOREST TALKS NO. XII 117

at a looking-glass, in no sute of dualism,
me highest is my own Self. I am He
Indian women wear small looking-glasses on
their thumbs and looking into them, do not
see the glass but their own faces outside
themselves, but realize, it is their own faces
although seeing it outside; so does the
Vedantin realize that the Sun is his own
I am the Sun of sons! My only
shadow is that sun I The meaning of OM
1 am, language, lips, feeling, action say so.

“Child, come along 1 “ No force in your
words; when another child who has been
absent and whom you have been longing to see
comes, you say. “Oh, come child, come !”
Speaking through every .nerve, every hair,
you fly to him, cling to him, clasp him, this
IS the language of the feeling. Chant’ OM
with every fibre of your body. Begin with
little force; sound first comes from throat,
then chest, lower and lower down until
from base of spine; then electric shock,
opening of Sushmana. your breathing becomes
rythmical, all germs of disease leave you.

A Vedantin looks on the Sun as related to

118 IN WOODS OF GOD-REALIZATION

himself in the same way as is the Moon to
the Sun. She appears to shine by herself,
but all lustre comes from the Sun. So the
Sun appears to shine from his own grandeur,
but that grandeur comes from Me,

In dreams you sec various things, say an
electric globe. Without Light you can see
nothing, in dreams there is no light to show
objects. What is that light which shows you
electric globe or diamond ? It is the light
of Atman, your own Self. The grandeur of
the sun in your dreams, is your own light.
The glory of the Sun is seen through my
glory I so does the Vcdantin feel. The Sun
in the material world is the emblem of Light,
Knowledge; thus by looking at the Sun,
1 feel I am the Light of Knowledge. The
Sun is the symbol of Power, makes planets
revolve, gives Life to all.

Here is another way of realising OM.

A stands for Existence, Life.

U stands for Light, Knowledge.

M stands for BUss, Happiness.

OM has symbol in hieroglyphics in the
Sun, written in characters of gold. Like a

FOREST TALKS NO* XII

119

written word, OM and this Sun, material
symbol, is an image of Me.

The Sun is a symbol of beauty, attracts
all planets, so dazzling I $o splendid!
represents Bliss. Realize, I am Reality,
Truth, Glory ! All attributes are mine! are
me ! are I!

Existence, Knowledge, Bliss. A little
material twisted image of Me is the sun !
1 do not worship OM. OM worship Me !
1 am the Sun before whom all planets and
all bodies, heavenly as well as human, revolve.
Immutable, eternal I Before Me does the
whole universe turn round and round to show
Me all her parts and sides ; to lay open to Me
all her beauty, the Sun shines for my
sake before Me.

The heart of Christ,

The brain of Shakespeare,

The mind of Plato.

All feel upon my glory, drink of my
sunshine. The presence of the Sun makes
men think that the muscles move thereby; it
is my Gold-like presence that brings all this
to pass.

120 IN WOODS OF GOD-REALIZATION

Live in me, the Sun of suns. Light of
lights am T ! From the ocean of my presence
all ripples come, I am the monarch of
monarchs! as all the kings, as all the flowers !

I smile in the sunbeams. I make muscles of
warriors move! Everywhere my Will is
being done! My Kingdom and Glory
administer daily bread to every being! and
make the Earth revolve. Evil thoughts,
worldly desires have no right to appear in
my presence.

In the holy presence of myself, little
desires have no right to intrude; anger,
passion, etc. are things of darkness! I
permeate all, lowest and highest. I am
Spectator, Showman, Performer. In Jesus am
I ! in the most ignominious am I ! the All 1
Whatever is the object of your desire. 1 am.

I roll in thunder and in surging seas of
Franklin. Newton, Calvin, hearts of prophets
1 am,—Fountain Head,—also of gardens
and landscapes ! With this emotion put
forth all this meaning to Om—the process
is simple; chant it, live it, walk it as
Gods. It shows want of Self-respect to bow

FOREST TALKS NO. XII

121

down to any desires that are not great.
Walk in your grand glory and dignity. If
distracted by worldly desires, you are not
singing OM.

About opening Sushmana, about the
thousand petalled Lotus, waste not your time ;
all will come to you. You will glean
marvellous results. Be above fear, anxiety,
or uneasiness. You will see all knowledge.
The world will come to you of itself. Every
object will pay allegiance to you. Do not
confuse yourself with meandering zigzag
paths, you will have to repent.

LETTERS

FROM

SWAMI RAMA

LETTERS FROM THE HIMALAYAS
(A) Himalayan Scenes
No. I
Gangotri

September^ 1901
The holy Ganges could not bear Rama’s
separation. She succeeded at last in drawing
him to herself after a little more than a
month’s absence. Notwithstanding all her
Jnana ( culture), she began to rain
sweet tears of joy on meeting him. Who
can describe the nascent beauty and playful
freaks of the dear Ganges at Gangotri ?
Very praiseworthy is the- upright character
of her playmates, vjz, the white mountains
and innocent Deodar trees. The latter in
their tali stature vie with the Persian poet’s
lady love, while their balmy breath invigo¬
rates, exhilarates and elevates.

Here how well can one see that “God
sleeps in the stone, breathes in the plant,
moves about in the animal, and wakes up
to consciousness in man.”

Pilgrims, after leaving Jamaotri, usually
reach Gangotri in not less than ten days.

LETTERS FROM THE HIMALAYAS 125

In three days, after leaving Jamnotri, did
Rama arrive at Gangotri. He came by a
route as yet untrod by an inhabitant of the
plains. This route is called the Chhayan
Route by mountaineers. Three successive
nights were passed in lonely forest caves.
We came across no hamlet or hut. No
biped was visible throughout the journey.

The Chhayan. Route is so called because
almost all the year round it is covered
with shade. The shade of trees, did I say ?
No, not at all. What business have trees
to make their appearance on such dizzy
heights and in a chill climate like that ?
The route is for the most part enveloped
by clouds. Shepherds of villages near
Jamnotri and Gangotri, while tending their
flocks, every year spend two or three
months in forests. They happened to meet
near the snow-clad peaks, called Bandar
Punch and Hanuraan Mukh, which connect
the sources of the two far-famed sister
rivers. Thus the route was discovered.
Exuberant flowers make almost the whole
of the way a veritable field of cloth of gold.

126 IN WOODS OF GOD-REALIZATION

Yellow, blue, and purple flowers are met
with in wild plenty. Lots of lilies, violets,
daisies, and tulips of different varieties;
Guggal, Dhoop, Mamira, Mitha Telia, Salab
misri and other herbs with leaves of lovely
tints; saffron, Itrasoo and other plants
exhaling exceedinly sweet scent; Bher Gadda
and lordly Brama Kanwal with its calyx filled
with fine icicles of frost; all these make
these mountains a pleasure garden worthy
of the Lord of Earth and Heaven

“O colour, colour, Jove’s last opulence !

Thy universal language doth enshrine
The mystery of all magnificence,

.A supernatural ministry is thine,

These larger forms of speech doth God employ
To shadow forth His own unshadowed joy.”

^ ^ I

Gol Chand ka joban phoot phoot kar bahar
nikal raha hai (Beauty is breaking forth
everywhere ). Zephyrs play freely all around.
Kissing all they meet, but particularly
kissing the brightest hued flowers. At places
the pulses of fragrance that come and go on

LETTERS FROM THE HIMALAYAS 127

the airy undulation affected Rama like sweet
music. Here one will find present in rich
abundance wind wafted odour which is
sweet and soft; sweet as the smile when
fond lovers meet, and soft as their parting
tears. Such fair fields on the tops of these
giant mountains are stretched like decorated
carpets. Do they serve gods as dining
tables or dancing grounds ? Murmuring
streams and rivers thundering over precipices
are not missing in these fairy scenes. On
certain summits, vision enjoys perfect freedom,
unimpeded it travels far and wide on all sides,
no hills to stand in its way, no angry clouds
to mar its course. Some of the grand peaks
in their zeal to pierce the sky and cleave the
cloudland have, it seems, altogether forgotten
to stop and appear to melt into highest
heavens.

While dealing with the awe-inspiring
grandeur of the haughty mountains, let us
not leave unnoticed the trembling splen¬
dour of the gemlike morning dew which
enhanced not a little the attractiveness of
the. way. How well is man’s mind(5tt^)

128 IN WOODS OF GOD-REALIZATION

shown in emblem by the tiny transient dew
drop upon the Jotus leaf! Tiny, transient, ah !
yet how pure and sparkling, reflecting the
Sun of Righteousness, () the infinite
source of light, in its bosom. O man, art
thou the wee little drop of the Infinite Sun?
Indeed, the Light of lights thou art, and
not the puny drop. All the Vedas and
Rama declare with an emphasis not to be
mistaken that it is Thy refulgent glory that
lends life and lustre to such fairy lands.
Above below, and every where Thy resplen¬
dent presence shines. Thou art that power
“which does not respect quantity, which
makes the whole and the particle its equal
channel.” It is Thou that delegatest to the
morning its smile and to the rose its blush.

Traced in the midnight planets’ blaze.

Or glistening in the morning dew,

Whaie’er is beautiful or fair.

Is but Thine own reflection there.

Thine is the starry moon of night,

The twilight eve—the dewy morn ;

Whate’er is beautiful and bright
Thine hands have fashioned to adorn.

LETTERS FROM THU HIMALAYAS 129

Thy glory walks in every sphere

And all things whisper, “God is heie.”

Young Krishna { Gol Chand ) had the
knack of besmearing the muzzles of calves
and goats with a small remnant of butter
after stealthily eating to his entire satisfac¬
tion the butter of Gopikas. The poor
animals. The poor animals were slapped
and abused by the ignorant house-wives ;
whereas the dear little innocent thief escaped
scot-free. It is the soul of all souls that if
carrying matters in his own way, in reality
that sorcerer Rama is bringing everything
to pass; but through his strange Maya he
gets the false ego ( ahankar ) involved in
responsibility. Call that butter-eating Krishna
innocent, call him naughty, you are the same,
reader. Whether juggler or magician, Rama
is your true Self. Whatever exists, exists
in you, you maintain each and all. Not
imprisoned in the isolated pale island of a
small body you arc. Never, never is the
criminal ahankar (false ego ) your Atman.
You are not the poor insignificant drop
you are the mighty ocean.

130 IN WOODS OF GOD-REALIZATION

No. II

The present Dwelling

of Rama {for the eye emimoured of external
form ) is a snug cotuge, in the Mountain
Amphitheatre, surrounded by a green-sward
in a lonely natural garden commanding a
fair view of the Ganges. Narayana and
Tularam live elsewhere. Ram Buti grows
in profusion here, Sparrows and other birds
twitter heartily all the day long. Climate
bracing. The song of the Ganges and the
chorus of birds keep up a celestial festival
all the time. Here the Ganges Valley is
very broad. Gangi flows in a vast maidan,
so to speak. The current, however is very
swift. Still it has several times been waded
across by Rama. Kedar and Badn have
often enough most affectionatly invited
Rama Badshah. But dear Gangi, at the
very thought of separation, feels sorrowful
and crestfallen, and Rama doe; not like to
displease her and see her dejected.

LETTERS FROM TH5 HIMALAYAS 131
No. Ill

SuMERoo Visited

While living in the Jamnotri Cave,
Rama’s daily food was Marcha and potatoes
once in twenty-four hours. This brought
on indigestion. About seven motions every
day for three successive days. Oa the
fourth day of ill-health, early in the morn¬
ing, after bathing in the hot springs, he
started on his trip to Sumcroo, wearing no
clothes except a Kaupin (a rag round the
loins), no shoes, no head-dress, no umbrella.
Five strong mountaineers, having warm
clothes on, accompany him. Narayana and
Tularam sent back down to Gharsali.

To begin with, we had to cross the
infant Jumna three or four times. Then
the Jumna Valley was found blocked up by
enormous avalanche about forty-hve yards
in height and one furlong and a half in
length. Steep mountains like two vertical
walls stood proudly on both sides. Have
they conspired to deter Rama Badshah from
advancing further ? Never mind ! All

(32 IN WOODS OF G0D-REAU2ATI0N

obstructions must disappear before a strong
adamantine will. We began to climb the
western mountain-wall. Now and again
we could get absolutely no foot-hold and
had to support our bodies partly by catching
hold of the twigs of fragrant but thorny
rose bushes, and partly by entangling our
toes in the tender blades of the soft moun¬
tain grass called Cha. At times we were
within an inch of sure death. A deep

abyss with the cold bed of snow filling
the Jumna Valley was as a grave wide
agape just ready to give too hospitable
a reception to any one of the party whose
foot might tremble ever so little. From
beneath the slow, faint, murmuring sound
of the Jumna was still reaching our ears
like the death dirge of muffled drums. Thus
we had to move along in the jaws of Death,
as it were, for three quarters of an hour.
Strange situation indeed, Death staring
us in the face on one side, and air redolent
with sweet scent refreshing and animating
on the other. By this circuitous, dangerous
enterprise, we reached at last beyond the

LETTERS T-ROM THE HIMALAYAS 133

awful avalanche. Here the Jumna left. The
party ascended a steep mountain. There
was no road, no foot-path, nothing of the
kind. A thick dense forest was passed where
we could not sec the wood of the trees.
Rama's body received several scratches. After
a little more than an hour's .struggle in this
forest of oak and birch trees we reached
open ground covered all over with smaller
growth. The atmosphere was charged, rather
saturated with delicious odours. The ascent
put all the mountaineers out of breath. Even
Rama felt it to be good exercise. Inclines
of 80* and even more had to be scaled. The
ground was for the most part slippery. But
all around the stately vistas and charming
flowerage and teeming foliage beguiled the
hard journey. European gardeners, in general,
get seeds of flowers from places like these to
decorate Indian Company Gardens, where
the ignorant English speaking young men
called them English flowers. But the remark¬
able peculiarity of most of these flowers is that
when planted elsewhere they yield no fragrance,
although they retain their original colour.

134 IN WOODS OF GOD-REAIJZATION

Young men, puffed up with European
education, while reading the re-echoes of
the Vedanta through the writings of Euro¬
pean Profesors, become fond admirers ot
what they deem to be Western thought,
not knowing that the flowers of thought
they have taken a fancy for, have been
transplanted from their own motherland
with this remarkable difference that in the
hands of European teachers the wonderful
flowers have lost their sweet fragrance ot
renunciation ()• Vedanta, as presented
by Europeans, keeps the form and colour of
philosophy, but loses the delicious scent ot
realization.

Aks-i-gitl yang hai gul ka, wa lekin bu nahh?.

What about the health of Rama who
had been ailing? He was all right that
day, no disease, no fatigue, no complaint of
any kind. No mountaineer could go ahead
of him. We went on climbing and clim¬
bing till every one of the party felt very
hungry. By this time we had reached a

LEFTERS FROM THE HIMALAYAS l35

region where it never rains but snow falls
in gracious bounty.

There was no trace of vegetation of
any kind on these bald bleak heights. There
had been a fresh snowfall before our arrival.

A red blanket was spread on a big slab
of stone as a carpet for Rama. Potatoes
that had been boiled the night before were
given him to eat. The companions took their
stale simple food most thankfully.

Lumps of light and brilliant snow served
as ( dry solid ) water as well as luxury. Just
after finishing the meals we were up again.
Moving steadily onward and upward we
toiled on. One young man fell down exhaus¬
ted, his lungs and limbs refused to carry
him any further; ‘he complained also of
giddiness of head. He was left alone there
at that time. Proceeding a little further,
another companion was senseless. “My head.”
he said, “reels and reels.” He also was left
to himself for the time being. The rest
marched on. After short while a third
companion fell off. His nose began to bleed-
With two men now Rama presses on.

lie

IN W(K)DS OF GOO'RKALIZATION

Thre^ bjautiful Barars ( mountain
Stags) ware seen most excellentlv flittine
past.

A fourth companion lags behind, and
at last lies down on snow-covered stones.
No fluid water was visible round about, but
a deep gurgling sound was audible from
under the stones where the man lay. One
Brahman still accompanies Rama, carrying
the aforementioned red blanket, a telescope,
a pair of green glasses, and a hatchet. Air
became very thin to breathe. Strange enough,
two Garurs flew over our heads here. A
tedious slope of old, old snow of dark bluish
colour, had to be mounted. The companion
began to cut steps in the slippery snow in
order to make it possible to plant our feet
thereon. But the ancient glacier was so
rigid that the poor man's hatchet broke
down. Then and there we were overtaken
by a snow storm. The man’s heavy heart
was cheered up by Rama with the assurance
that Providence wanted to do more good than
harm through the snowfall. And so it
proved. The threatening snowfall made

LETTERS FROM THE HIMALAYAS

137

it easier for us to trudge along. With the
aid of pointed Alpine sticks we mounted
the slope, and lo I there lay before us fair,
flat, extensive fields of dazzling snow, miles
upon miles in width. A resplendent floor of
silver snow shining .all around. Joy ! Joy ! Is it
not an ocean of radient milk, splendid, sublime,
wonderful, and wonderful ? Rama’s joy knew
no bounds. He ran on at his full speed on
the glaciers at this time putting on his shoulder
the red blanket and wearing canvas shoes.

There is no one in his company now,
akhir ke lain bans akela hi sidhara (

5) r TvTO )

For nearly three miles he walked over
the snows. Sometimes the legs got immersed
and were drawn out not without struggle.
At last on a snowy mound, the red blanket
was spread. Rama sits on it, all alone,
above the noises and turmoils of the world,
beyond the fumes and furies of the mulli*
tude. Perfect silence reigns here. What a
shanti prevails. No sounds of any kind
audible except the anand

) Most blessed serene solitude !

138 JN WOODS OF GOD-REALIZATION

The veil of cloud became a little less
thick. The rays of the sun sifted through
the thin cloud fell on the scene and immedia¬
tely turned the silver snows into burning
gold. Very appropriately has this place
been called Sumeroo, or the Mountain of Gold.

O ye men of the world ! mark it no
purple bloom on a lady’s cheek, no bright
jewellery or fine ornaments, no superb
mansions can ever possess an iota of the
transcendent enchantment and fascination
of this Sumeroo. And numberless Sumeroos
like this you will find within you when
once you realize your own real Self All
Nature shall do you homage “from cloud to
cloud, from the blue sky to the green earth all
living creatures therin included from the
eagle to the mole.” No god shall dare disobey.

Clear up, O sky ! Disperse, ye clouds of
ignoranc; that overhang India! No more
shall ye hover over this blessed land. O
Himalayan snows, your Master orders you to
keep fast to your purity and faithfulness to
Truth ( Light). Never shall ye send waters
impregnated with dualism to the plains.

LETTERS FROM THE HIMALAYAS 139

The clouds are rent asunder. Tho snows
all assume ochre-coloured appearance. Have
the mountains embraced Sannyas ( ) ?

They have certainly put on Rama’s livery,
what a phenomenon. The mountain snows
look up to Rama in submissive willingness to
run his errands.

Hip Hip Hurrah ! Hip Hip Hurrah !

The rounded world is fair to see,

.'4ine times folded in mystery -
Though baffled seers cannot impart
The secret of its labouring heart.

Throb time with Nature’s throbbing breast,
And all is clear from east to west.

“ Well,” says the American sage, Nature
is the incarnation of a thought and turns
to a thought again as ice becomes water
and gas. The world is mind precipitated
and the volatile essence is for ever escaping
again into the state of free thought. Hence
this virtue and pungency of the influence
on the mind of natural objects whether
inorganic or organised. Man imprisoned,

140 IN WOODS OF GOD-REALIZATION

man crystallised, man vegetative, speaks to
man impersonated.

g.—If the world is my own idea ( mind
precipitated ), why do not the external objects
change at my will ?

^._Says Gaurapada Acharya : “ Mere
thought in the dreamland divides itself into
external objects on the one hand and internal
emotions, desires and so forth on the other.
Moreover, the internal thought in that stale
seems to be in one’s control, changeable and
comparatively unreal; whereas the external
objects ( as in a nightmare ) appear to possess
comparatively uncontrollable, stable reality
of their own.

Now, as a matter of fact, from the point
of view of man in the wakeful slate, both
the real and the unreal, the external and the
internal aspects of a dream, are but idea,
pure and simple, and they are besides one’s
own idea, one’s own creation. Again, in the
wakeful state, people distinguish between
what they call stern constant external objects
and the unreal internal thought. But to
the man of self-realization the hard objects,

LETTERS FROM THE HIMALAYAS 141

no less than the variable thoughts in the long
run, become non-entity like a dream, and so
long as their appearance lasts, they affect him
as his own ; even though they cannot be
altered at will, yet they are his own ideas.
Your intellect cannot give an explanation
of the growth of your hair or of the bloom
of your face, still you regard the hair and
the fair complexion your own. Just so, a
Jiwan Mukta finding himself to be the Sely
of all must regard every object his own. He
is all love. For him even the appearance
of the real as well as the ideal is gradually
relieved by the One only ; without a Second
Consciousness.

MAYA

Torch whirling ( Mahratti, jwala ) is not
uncommon in certain parts of India. The
glowing flame looks now like a broad circle
of light, now appears to be an unbroken
streak of fire, again assumes an elliptical
form, goes up, comes down, and manifests
many amusing phenomena. Are these

142 IN WOODS OF OOD-REALIZATJON

phenomena inherent in the flame ? Do they
come out of the torch or fire-brand ? Do
they come from without ? When the Mahratti
is not revolving, do the phenomena enter
into it ? Or do they go elsewhere ? To all
these queries one has to answer in the negative.
The torch in whirling motion exhibits straight
and curved lines ; when motion stops, there
is no trace of such appearances in the torch.
Even when the torch was in rapid motion,
the curves, though visible, were far from
being real.

Just so. Absolute consciousness (^ )

like the firebrand at rest has no trace of
manifold names and forms (the phenomenal
worlds); and even when the variety of
names and forms makes an appearance,
their appearance is illusory like that of the
Mahratti phenomena ; Consciousness ( '

being always untouched and untainted by
them. The one indivisible flame (light,

) is ever present in all the phenomena,
but the phenomena do never exist in the
flame (light, ^). Similarly, in all names
and forms Rama is m manifest, but in Rama

LETTERS FROM THE HIMALAYAS 143

names and forms are evanescent. As the
Mahratti phenomena owe their seeming
existence to motion, so the multiplicity of
names and forms (that make up the world )
owe their seeming existence to the Maya
Shakti of

Shakti or power has not any existence
of its own. It may be manifested, it may
not be manifested. It cannot exist apart.
This WJl Shakti in the case of the indivi¬
dual is revealed as what may be called
Consciousness’s motion or activity, mams
( mind). Manas in motion and the pheno¬
menal world being the obverse and reverse
of one and the same thing ; Manas at rest is
identical with Consciousness. The Absolute
( Brahma, m ) ManaSy purged of its dross
{ desires, attachment) loses its fickleness and
tends to become steady. Perfect steadiness
being attained, manas is one with Brahma.
By this sakshatkar, Maya is overcome and
the world is converted into a Garden of
Eden, the Lost Paradise is immedietcly regained.
Beauty breaks in everywhere. The sense of

144 IN WOODS OF GOD-REALIZATION

separateness being killed out, all cares and
anxieties arc merged in the supremely sublime
Existence, Consciousness and Bliss for ever
and ever.

A young man in the presence of Rama
plucked a beautiful rose with a view to enjoy
its smell. No sooner did he bring it in contact
with his nose than a bee stung him just on
the tip of the nose. The man cried with pain,
the rose fell from his hand.

Do the petals of every rose enfold u
bee ? Certainly, there is not a rose of sensual
pleasure which has not got the bee of injury
concealed in it. Unbridled desires must be
punished by inevitable pain.

Ye given to dreadful oblivion, forget not
your own Self. Ye need not pluck the gaudy
rose, wherever the full blown rose lies there
you are, its vermillion or sweet scent is your
own. King, his shakes are yours; Beauty,
her charms are yours; diamond or gold,
its burning rays are yours Why entertain
vain desires, and what for ? Realise your
unity with the All, your oneness with God.
You are that divine Krishna who danced

LETTERS FROM THE HIMALAYAS 145

hand in hand with every one of the hundreds
of Gopis at one and the same time. In the
sea as well as in the palace, in the garden
as well as in the desert, in the battle field or
the private chamber you are always equally
present.

Rama cries from the tops of the highest
mountains: Ye who complain of weakness
and poverty, verily ye are Lord Almighty,
ye are Rama himself. Imprison not your¬
selves in your own thought; wake up, wake
up, shake off your sleep and this dream of
a world. Why grovel in misery and help¬
lessness, when it is no other than your own
Self which is all in all ? O, rise up to Self-
Consciousness, and all sorrows shall vanish,
ye are the essence of all happiness, ye are
tho soul of all joy. Nothing can do you
harm. For Rama’s sake, know your Atman
() Why delay ? Know it, as it, as it
ought to be known. Are ye not hunting after
happiness day and night with unremitting
zeal and unflagging efforts, but with unfail¬
ing failure ? Don t make fools of yourselves.
Seek not happiness in the objects of the

\46 IN WOODS OF GOD-REALIZATION

senses. Dupes of senses ! give up your vain
search outside. The ocean of immortality is
within you The kingdom of heaven is
within you. Ye are the nectar of nectars.
Let both the mind and the world be melted
down in God-Consciousness. Just abandon
your little selves to blessed madness. Ye
dear ones, why care so much for the quaran¬
tine of a mortal body. Harbour not a single
thought within you as to v^hat shall become
of this not-self. Banish the superstition of
all relations. Let the eyes perish that do
not see God. Woe unto the heart that
cherishes the disease of desires. Wipe away
all ungodliness. Hold fast to your true
position. No praise or blame can come up
there, no sorrow or petty joy can disturb
then. Receive Divinity into the ship and
then let all go Let go the shore, let go
the little self, let go the sail! Yea, let the
gale of (Divine Love) take the poor
flimsy dark cotton sail of this frail human
bark and waft it right out on the ocean of
God Consciousness. Happy is he who is
drowned iff heavenly intorication. Blessed

LETTERS FROM THE HIMALAYAS

147

is he who is dead drunk in divine madness.
Worshipful is he who is absorbed in deep
Atmananda and Supreme Bliss, being lost to
the world,

Rama.

OM ^ OM

But thou art the root of things present,

past) and future.
Thou art father and mother ;

Thou art masculine ;

Thou arc feminine ;

Hail ! root of the world ;

Hail ! centre of things ;

Unity of Divine numbers.

« ^ «

Thou art what produces.

Thou art what is produced ;

Thou art what enlightens ;

Theu art what is enlightened ;

Thou art what appears,

Thou art what is hidden.

By Thy own brightness.

148 LETTKRS FROM THE HIMALAYAS

No. IV

Vasishtha Ashrama.

This evening it stopped raining. The
clouds, assuming all sorts of fantastic shapes
and different degrees of thickness, have
somewhat parted in different directions.
Light refracted and reflected from them
makes the entire scene a blazing sphere of
glory. Then the playful children of heaven
put on fascinating colours of all varieties.
What painter could paint ? What observer
could note all the passing shades and hues ?
Look where you will, the eyes are charmed
by the orange, purple, violet and pink
colours and their indescribable varieties,
while between these the ever welcome blue
black ground is here and there. The
effulgent glory brings on ecstacy, and tears
of joy appear in Rama’s eyes. The clouds
dissolve, but leave a permanent message
behind. They brought a cup of nectar from
the Lord and went back to Him. Such are
in fact all attractive objects. They appear,
reflect Rama’s glory for a second and
dissolve. Insane indeed must he be who

LETTERS FROM THE HIMALAYAS 149

falls in love with the passing clouds, and
yet folks endeavour to hold fast to the
unsteady clouds of seeming things and cry
on like children finding them gone. How
amusing ! O ! I cannot suppress a laughter.

Others again expend all their time in
minutely observing and faithfully noting
down the smallest details of transitory
changes in clouds (phenomena). O ms!
What are these creatures ! There is a flood
of glory around them and yet they care not
to slake their raging thirst for light. These
are what they call scientists and philoso¬
phers. Being too busy in splitting the hair,
they take no notice of the Glorious Head
of the Beloved to which the hair belong.
011 cannot suppress a laughter. Happy
is he, whose vision no clouds of names and
forms could obstruct, who could always
trace the attracting light to its true source,
the Atman, and whose affections reached
the goal (God)—not being lost in the way
like streams dried up before reaching the
sea. The pleasing relations must vanish.
They are only postmen. Miss not the Lord’s

150 IN WOODS OF GOD-REALIZATION

love-letter they have brought for you. The
match stick must soon burn off, but blessed
is he who has lighted his lamp permanently
therewith. The steam and food supply must
ere long be consumed, but fortunate is
the boat which before the fatal loss reached
the Home—the Harbour. He lives who
could make of every object whatever a
stepping stone to God, or rather a mirror to
see God. The world with all its stars,
mountains, rivers, kings and scientists, etc;
was made for him. Verily it is so, I tell
you the truth.

The fields and landscapes, wherein lies
their refreshing charms as contrasted with
the sickening smoky streets of cities, by
criticism or compliments, they excite not in
man the sense of limitation and they drive
him not into the corner {bodyhood). Man,
in their presence, can well occupy the
position of a Witness—Light. Inwardly,
the vegetable kingdom has as much, and
perhaps more, of strife and struggle, and
unrest, etc., than the civilised societies; but
even their struggles become interesting in

LETTERS FROM THE HIMALAYAS 151

SO far as a man among cedars, oaks, and
pines easily sees himself not one of them,
but can keep himself the Witness-Light ( )

unconcerned. He who can live in busy streets
as any body might move in forests, feeling
the Self as disinterested Witness-Light, not
identifying himself with the body which in
this case may be taken as a plant among
plants, who could deny that the Universe is
a Garden of Eden to him ? Such people of
God-life are the light of the world. The
Light which appears as unconcerned wit¬
ness is the very life of all that it witnesses.

The river of Life is flowing. None
exists but God. Of whom shall I be afraid,
of whom ashamed ? All life is my God’s
life, nothing other, He and Me too is He.
The whole world is my own Himalayan
woods. When lights dawns, flowers begin
to laugh, birds sing and streams dance
with joy ! O that light of lights ! The sea
of Light of lights is flowing ! The breeze of
Bliss is blowing !

In this beautiful forest, 1 laugh and
sing, clap hands and dance.

I

152 IN WOODS OF GOO-R£ALI2ATfON

Did they jeer ? It was blowing of the
breeze. Did they sneer? Jtwas hissing of
the leaves. Shall I be overshadowed by my
own life pulsating in the streams, cedars,
birds, and breezes ?

I dance, I dance, I laugh and dance.

The stars 1 raise as dust in dance.

No jeolousy, no fear,

I’m the dearest of the dear.

No sin, no sorrow,

No past, no morrow.

No rival, no foe,

No injury, no woe.

No, nothing could harm me,

Noi nothing alarm me,

The soul of all
Tne nectar fall,

The sweetest self.

Yea ! health itself,

The prattling streams.

The happiest dreams.

All myrrh and bairn,

Rawan and Ram,

So pure %pd calm
Is Kama, is Rama.

LFTTERS 1-ROM THE HIMALAYAS' 153

The heavens and stars,

Worlds near and far
Are hunf; and strunj.’,

On the tunes [ sung.

•No. V

The Top of Basoon—^Vasishtha Ashram).
The moon is shining, spreading a sea of
silvery peace. The moonlight falls full on
Rama s straw bed. The shadows of un¬
usually tall, white rose bushes which grow
fearlessly free and wild on . this mountain,
are checking the moon-lit bed and flickering
so playfully as if they were nice little dreams
of the placid moonlight that sleeps so tran¬
quilly before Rama.

Sleep, my baby, sleep !

And smile with rosy dreams I
Jamnotri, Gangotri, Sumeroo, Kedar and
, Badri glaciers stand so close as if one could
reach them by hand. In fact, a semicircle of
glaring diamond peaks like a jeweller’s
tiara decorates this Vasishtha Ashram. Their
white snowy summits are all taking a bath
in the milky ocean of moonlight, and their

154 IN WOODS OF GOO REALIZATION

deep Soham breathings in the form of coo!
breezes reach here continually.

The snows on this mountain have all
melted off, and by this lime the vast open
field near the lop is completely covered
with blue, pink, yellow and white hued
flowers, some of them being very fragrant.
People are afraid of coming here as they
believe this place to be the Garden of Fairies.
This idea saves this pleasure-garden of the
Devas from being haunted by the sacrilegious
spoilers of nature’s beauty. Rama walks
over this flower-land very softly with great
caution, lest any tender smiling little flower
be injured by ungentle tread.

Cuckoos, doves and numerous other
winged songsters entertain Rama in the
morning, sometimes in the morning a huge
dragon comes up near the roof of the cave
and entertains Rama with his peculiar Persian
wheel like music. The eagles ( royal Garuras)
soaring high up, touching the dark clouds
at noon,—arc they not the Garuras bearing
Vishnu on their back? On night a tiger
sprang past Rama.

LETTERS FROM THE HIMALAYAS 155

What a fair colony the blooming forest
giants have round the yonder mountain
pond ! What bond unites them ? It is no
connection with each other, no personal
relationships. They have a social organi¬
sation, as it were, only in so far as they send
their roots to the self-same pond. The love
of the same water keeps them together. Let
us meet in devotion to the same Truth,—meet
in Heaven, in heart, in Rama.

No. VI

Jagadevi Lawn

All the caves near the top of Basoon
Mountain being engaged by the rains,
Rama had to quit the Garden of Fairies at
the top. He came down to a most lovely,
lofty level lawn where breezes keep play¬
ing all along. Jasaniine, white and yellow,
grows wild here together with various other
sister flowers. Straw berries,; crimson rose-
berries are found in ripe plenty. On one
side of the newly built hut a neat green¬
sward extends far in gradually ascending
slope between two rushing streams. In front

156 IN WOODS OF GOD-REALIZATION

is a charming landscape, flowing waters,
fresh-foliage covered hills and undulating
forests and fields. Clean, smooth slabs of
stone on the lawn form the royal tables and
seats for Rima. If shaij be needed, spread¬
ing groves furnish cheerful accommodation.

No. VII
Rain

In three hours a hut was prepared by
shepherds living in the forest. They made
it rainproof to the best of their power. At
night, severe rainstorm set in. Every
three minutes lightning flashed, followed
by rolling thunder at which each lime the
mountains shook and trembled. This Indra
vajra kept up its continual strokes for over
three hours. Water poured madly. The
poor hut leaked, its resistance to the storm ,
became so ineffective that an umbrella had
to be kept open all the time under the roof
to save the books from being drenched.
The clothes became all wet. The ground
being grass covered could not turn muddy,

LETTERS FROM THE HIMALAYAS 157

yet it was drinking to its full the water
drops drizzling continuously from the roof.
Ram is enjoying very nearly the “fish” and
the “tortoise” life. The experience of the
aquatic life for the night brings joy of its
own,

'Ze umr yak shah kam giro zinhar makhusp.

Translation—CoMni one night less from
the full span of your life and sleep not at
all.

Blessed is the storm to keep us up in the
Lord's company.

^ sTFr, (sTrST )

Rigveda ( Mandau Vin )

TO I

H ^ mn TiTmt? ti

Translation —Not for any price could
1, O Mountain-mover, give Thee up. not
for a thousand, O Thunderer! nor ten
thousand, nor hundred times that, O Lord
of countless bounty I

158 IN WOODS OF GOD-REALIZATION

Rama's interpretation :— Whether, O
Shakra (Almighty) thou be far (in roaring
clouds, ), or. O Vritra-slayer doubt-
destroyer), near at hand (in blowing winds,
); here, heaven penetrating songs
{piercing prayers) are being sent as long¬
maned steeds for Thee (to ride on ) and
come sharp to one who has pressed out the
juice (of his existence) for Thee. Come,
sit in my heart, partake of the wine of my
life (^ Soma ).

Man is not meant to waste all his time
in petty fears and cautions ( fe:) of
the kind :—"how shall I live and oh ! what
shall become of me 7" and all such foolish
nonsense. He ought to have at least as
much self-respect as fishes and birds and
even trees have. They grumble not at
storm or sunshine but live as one with
Nature. My Atman^ 1 myself am the pour¬
ing rain. I flash. I thunder. How beauti¬
fully awful and strong I am. Shivoham
songs gush forth from the heart.

fes:T: It

LETTERS FROM THE HIMALAYAS 159

^ WRT 95 : I

9^1: fei II

No day or night passes without, bring¬
ing a heavy shower of rain. And as
described in the first shloka of Kalidas
quoted above, Rama is often caught by
show'ers in his daily climbs up the hill. But
there being no caves in the near neighbour¬
hood he has to take the very clouds for his
umbrella and to enjoy the showers as his.

Happy are the cedars and pines as
described in the second shloka, which
though quivering and shivering, offer on
their bodies as target for the cool showers
of the Ganges' spray.

O the good fortune to bare our bosom
before raging coolness, stormy grace !

No. VIII

A Visit to Sahastaru Tal.

July 1906,

So far aloft, amid Himalayan steeps,

Couched on the tranquil pool the lotus sleeps

l60 LETTERS FROM THE HIMALAYAS

That the bright Seven who star the northern sky
Cull the fair blossoms fron their seats on high ;
And when the sun pours forth his morning glow
In st(earns of glory from hU path below,

Tney gain new beauty as his kisses break
Hts darling's slumbtr on the mountain lake.

To travel on almost heaven-high ridges
for miles and mileSi viewing the waving
forests of birch and juniper spreading far
below, flowery precipices lying on the right
as well as on the left hand side; to walk
barefooted on extensive fields covered with
soft velvety grass where loving dainty flowers
cling to your feet getting entangled in the
toes ; to enjoy the silvery sights of the rushing
waterfalls on distant Kailas cliffs ; to watch
clever little musk deer springing at lightning
speed before you—well might the moon
ride such a beautiful runner; to be startled
now and then by Garuras (royal eagles)
fluttering their painted large wings now on
this side, then on the other; to stoop to
pick every now and then Kailas lotuses {Brahma
Kamalas ) which in their lovely petals com¬
bine gold and fragrance; to be amused at

1(51

IFTIEKS FROM llfE r.'MAI.AYAS

the coolies outdoing each other in digging
Masi, Usar, Guggal, the different kinds of
inctnsc which abound here in charming
plenty ; and to sing, hymns and chant OM,
engaged our time. Far, above the din and
bustle of worldly life; deep and vast blue
lakes in their crystalline expanse, rippling
under the pure and free Kailas air, surrounded
by chaste, virgin snows hold a mirror up
to the very face of the blooming, blushing
Sun. In such lofty solitude serenely does
the Sun enjoy his charming glory. On
‘^uch heights, no hamlet or hut could be
expected; the nights were passed in caves
where breezes sleep.

O ! The joy of leaving behind the prosaic
plains of parching body-consciousness! 0!
The joy of mingling with the sun and breeze ;
O I The joy of roaming in the heavenly in¬
finite forest deeps Ekameva-dyitiyam {

Y. ithout a second ) !

Honour-winners, knowledge-gainers, social
reformers, dear labourers! Well one! God
( Rama) blesses you ! Go on. sweet ones.

\62 IN WOODS OF GOD-REALIZATION

Go on ! Pursue with hope and zeal your ^
respective duties. May your exertions be
crowned with abundant success, may you
reach safe and sound your pailicular desti¬
nations, may Joy greet you at the due stations.

Hut what of Rama ? Rama is on a different
ticket. He cannot break journey and sojourn
long at any between stop.GooJ bye ! Darlings ! 'i
0 the Terminus ! The never-ending Terminus.

1

Creiting the earths and heavens and birds and

beasts

Who enrer.^ these as life and seal ;

And from the husk of body and mind
Is thrashed out with devotion and Jnana
That Being clothed in forms and names !

That selfsame Sat art thou, the same, the same.

2 1

Diverting the thoughts from objects of sense,

Like horses whipped ^^hen going astray ;

Controlling the thoughts with Wisdom’s reins,

The sages bring them home to OM ;

That Home or OM art thou, no doubt the

same.

i

163

letters from the HIMALAYAS

3

The manifold change-^—wakiny, sleep.
Boyhood, manhood, health, disease,

Failure, success, gain or loss
Are dowers simply strung on thread ;

'I'hat changeless thread, the One in all.

Is Atman pure without a knot.

That Atman pate art thou, the same, the same,

4

That Being shmioi' in the sun is no other than

my.'Clt ;

That Self in me is certainly the Being shinmg

in the sun ;

By such texts the Vedas preach

The Light <>f lights, the Self-Supreme .

That Self art th<m ; yea ! same, the same.

5

Anxieties, doubts and fears and fall
Temptations, dangers, weakness are
Dispelled and criven out like the dnrk
Of thousand years when Light appears
The Light to drive out sorrow, sin,

Is consciousness of Self within.

That Consciousness or Self art thou ;
indeed the same, the same.

164 IN WOODS OF GOD-REALIZATION

6

The same that works thy eyes and hands,
The same doth move what by thee stands.
The One within is all without,

That One does brins what comes abcmt.

No foreign force, no foe, no other

Exiits by thee whatever

Is, art th<‘u, verily the same, the same.

When viewed from the stand-point of
God-Self, the whole wjrld becomes an effusion
of Beauty, expression of Joy, out-pouring of
Bliss. When limitation of vision is overcome,
there remains nothing ugly for us. When
everything is my own Self how could any
thing be other than sweetness condensed.
Self is Anand ( Bliss ), therefore, Self-realiza¬
tion is equal to the realization of the whole
world as Bliss-crystallised or perception of
the powers of Nature as my own hand and
feel, and feeling the universe as my own sweet
Self embodied.

O Joy ! Nothing separate !

*‘No warder At the gate
Can keep the Jnani in j
But like the sun over all

LETTERS KROM THE HIMALAYAS

155

fie will the castle win
And shine along the wall-”

He waits as waits the sky,

Until the clouds co by.

Yet shinfs seienely on
With an eternal day,

Alike when they are gone
And when they stay.

O Divinity ! who rules the Universe ? None
but God. Could anything take place against
God’s laws ? Never. All is well. Lei those
resort to plans and policies to whom the
world is real. God is, and nothing else exists
but God ! Glory ! Glory !

Perish this body and mind, if for a single
second the idea of defence lodges therein. My
bodies are millions, my Self is God and needs
no protection.

Outside rocks there are none to shatter.

I am the only rock, the rock of the Universe.

Flickering stars of the pupils of myopic
vision ought not to be allowed to divert our
attention in the least.

One person saw a dream, a nightmare

His neighbours’ gan to scream ! Look there I

\(i6 IN WOODS OF GOD REALIZATION

He weeps at no disaster,

I can’t suppress a laughter.'

If there ever was a person who loved from
his heart of hearts all beings as his own very
Self, it is Rama. My children may not under¬
stand Me, but 1 am still their own calm, serene,
loving, blessing Self, Rama.

No. IX

A Letter from the Himalayan Jungles,

Darjeeling June, 1905.

Day passes into night, and night again
turns into day, and here is your Rama
having no time to do anything, busy, very
busy, very busy in doing nothing. Tears
keep pouring, vieing well with the conti¬
nuous rains of this the most rainy district;
the hairs stand on ends, the eyes wide open
seeing nothing of the things before them.
Talk stopped, work stopped unfortunately (?)
No, most fortunately. Oh. leave me alone.

This continuous wave after wave of
inarticulate ecstasy, O Love ! Let it go on.
O ! The most delicious pain.

Away with writing,

letters from the HIMALAYAS 10'

Off with lecturing.

Out with fame and name.

Honours 1 Nonsence.

Disgrace ! meaningless.

Are these toys the end of life ?

Logic and Science, poor Bunglers I,

Let them see Me and have cured their blindness.
In dreams a sacred current flows,

In wakefulness, it grows and grows.

At times, it overflows the banks
Of senses and the mortal frame.

It spreads in all the world and flows,

It inundates in wild repose.

For this the sun, he daily rose,

For this the universe did roll,

All births and deaths for this.

Here comes rolling, surging wonder, undula¬
ting Bliss,

Here comes rolling laughter, silence.

What is Practical Vedanta ?

Pushing, marching Labour and no stagnant

Indolence;

Enjoyment of work as againSttedious drudgery;
Peace of mind and no canker of Suspicion ;
Organization and no disaggregation ;

168 IN WOODS OF GOD-REALIZATION

Appropriate reform and no conservatistic

custom !

Solid real feeling asagainst flowery talk ;

The’poeuy of facts as against Speculative

Action;

'I he logic of events as against the authority of

departed authors ;

Living realization and no mere dead quotations.

Constitute Practical Vedanta.

Meditation and concentration on the Maha
vakya (groat raying) Afiam hrahnasmi (I am
That), and no diffusion and confusion on
personalities and parlies, naturally trans¬
lates itself into force, freedom and love.
This Infinifc Godhead vibrating in every hair
on the body, this muscular advaita —non
dualism, this dynamical dsvotion, this flaming
light is what the Shastras call the unerring
Brahma-shar.

Q ye wavering, fickle, dubious minds, no
more of lukewarm orthodoxy and heterodoxy !
Scorch out 1,11 doubt and hesitation, all doxies
are your creation. The Sun might be shown
to be a disc of quicksilver, the Earth might
be proved to be a concave sphere, the Vedas

I.ETTERS FROM THE HIMALAYAS 169

might be demonstrated as not inspired, but
ye can be nothing, nothing but God. A single
note issuing from your Godhead must be taken
up by the blades of grass, the grains of sand,
the particles of dust, the whiffs of wind, the
drops of rain, by birds, beasts, gods and
men. It must be thundered over caves and
forests, pealed over hemlets and huts, it must
reverberate over streets and towns, pass from
cities to cities, and fill and thrill the whole
world ! O Freedom ! Liberty I

Fill the mountain-fountains of a river
with immense treasures of golden glaciers,
and all its branches, streams, canals must
now full, feeding the fields to flourish free.
Let the Source of life, the Origin of love and
Spring of delight and light, the infinite Power
and Purity, Divinity, embrace and displace
the little self, saturate the feelings, fill the
mind, and necessarily must be hands, feet,
eyes, nay every fibre of the frame, even the
environments must work a heaven of harmony
and irradiate a flood of energy.

The King’s very presence on his royal throne
establishes order throughout the durbar, so doth

170 IN WOODS OF GOD-1 EALIZATION

a n an’s resting cn his Gcd-hcfd (native gloiy,
) es lablish order and life through the
whole race.

O ye of little faith ! wake up ! wake 'up to
your holy majesty ! and a single glance from
your royal indifference, a side-wind from your
divine recklessness is enough to convert the
direct hells into charming heavens.

Come Mcimc, Come Home,

0 wanderer. Home 1 Om ! Om 1
Blow O breezes, mingle O winds, with these
words whose purpose is the same as yours.

0 laughter I laughter 1
Inextinguishable joy and laughter !

‘‘After long ages resuming the broken thread
coming back after a long but necessary parenthesis
To the call of the peacock in the woods.

Up with the bracken uncurling from the midst of

dead fronds of past selves.
Seeing the sun rise new upon the world as lovers

see it after their first night,
All changed and glorified the least thing trembling
with beauty, all oldsigl'ts Ltcoare ntw, every
thing vivified and bathed in divinity.”
•‘Now, having learned the lesson which it was

LETTERS FROM THE HIMALAYAS 171

necessary to learn of the int.^liect and of civiliza¬
tion, having duly taken in and assimilated and
acain duly excreted its results, once more to the
t;reat road with the animals and the trees and
the stars, travelling to return.

To other nights and days undreamt of in the
vocabularies of all dictionaries.

O kissts of the sun and winds !

O joy of the liberated Soul ( finished purpose
and acquittal of conventionality),
Daring all things, light steps, life held in the

palm of the hand 1

At length the Wanderer returns Home,

All chose things which have vainly tried to

detain him.

When he comes who looks neither to the right
njr to the left for any of them.
Not being deluded by them but rather threa¬
tening to pass by and leave them all in their

places just as they are.
Then rise up and follow him,

Though thorns and briars before—in his path
they now become fruits and flowers.
Not till be has put them from him does he
learn the love and faithfulness that is in them.

172

IN WOODS OF GOD-REALIZATION

Faithful for ever, more are they his Servants !
And this world is paradise ! ! !

No. X

( Copy of a letter sent to Rat Saheb Baij Nath, )

I

27th March, 1906

Most Blessed Divinity,

Peace like a river is flowing to me.

Peace as the breezes is blowing to iie.

Peace like the Ganges flows—

It flows from all my hair and toes.

Let surging waves of oceans of peace
Leave all the hearts and heads and feet I
Om joy ! Om Bliss ! Om Peace 1
This Ashram is above the snow¬

line. A beautiful stream, called Vasishtha
ganga (rirn ) flows just below Rama’s
cave. There are five or six water-falls in
the stream. Natural basins are carved out
of the hard rocks in the river valley by Shiva’s
(f^’s) own hand forming about twenty
lovely little tanks. The hills are covered
with those true light-loving hardy giants of the
forest whose green does not fade even when

LETfEKS FROM THE HIMALAYAS 173

more than six feet of snow accumulates about
them. They are certainly worthy of the great
Banaaiali*s (sRnfStr) kindness and love.

These oak-hearted, green-shouldered child¬
ren of Mahadev ( ) are the only compa¬

nions of Rama. Even Narayana swaini was : eiu
away to the plains not to visit Rama again
belore at hast two years. A young man comes
every day, cooks food, and leaves to spend tlic
night in some adjoining vilhige—the nearest
village being over three miles distant.

Half-a-mile walk up the hill takes Rama to
the top of this mountain (Basun) where the
sacred gIaciers*of Kedar, Badri, Suineru, Gango-
tri, and Kailas are wichin sight.

The spot is described at length in the Kedar
khand ( ). Such was the place selected

for Ashrampada ( the author of

Yoga Vasishtha (). Happily, no town
or road is near here yet. Ask not about the
ecstasy of Rama. The overflowing rapturous
peace will be revealed by Rama’s chief work
which will go down to the plains for publi¬
cation some years hence. Let none visit Rama

174 IN WOODS OF OOD-REALIZATION

till then, please.God is only^ reality.

^ ^ f^T ^ i

^ ^ ^ H '< M

^ ^ set, ^

^ ^ ^ ^ qiK ^RT IR II

M, ^ ^ -^T I

^ ^ “qr? ^ ^RjRT II 3 II

*rt I I

^ ^livil
fii g,<r I

;^f^| RT«T ^ ^ II it 11

^ ^ ^ 5^j *n^ ll

q^ 5551 ^ H sifl I
ifft-tR, q?^ srar, *IK li

«Rft*^^-^Ct qRt I

^ ^11

Your 5nmt»4 lecture was just masterly.
One copy was presented by Rama to the
Maharaja of Tehri. Dear, listen* Vedanta is
no cant, and this world is nought. He perishes
who feels it to be real God is the only rea¬
lity Yes, yes, yes, yes, ^

Rama.

LETTERS FROM THE HIMALAYAS

175

XI

Copy of a letter sent to Rai Bahadur Baij Nath,

I

End of June, 1906.
( The same as that of No. VI, VII and part
of VIII printed on pages 180 to 190 of this
very volume with an addition on the following)

^ sns;! ^ I

^ TST ^ It

^ ^ ti

^ *f ^ «IT, i!JT ^ ?rt< ^ I

^ sn festisrp^; ^ ?(xmj n

r ^ ^ i

^ ^ ^ jeMI I

5in^ Xm ^ ^ ^ 11

^ ^ ^ ?qtRl ^ ^ I II

^T3r^r 5^ 11

srgn^ % ^5Fk fJNRT % arsT ^ In

Tn I ^5T »TPT 5TFt I
n? ?nnj^ Mil

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ I

^tT»'f ^ ^>11

176 IN WOODS OF GOD-REALIZATION ^

am mr ^rm?T 11

fira ^ ®?T5F ^ II

^ ?TTlt I

^ ?RiT flCr II

The Spritiial Law about privations and
success, how beautifully the Veda enunciates-
it :—^ a

Let any body in his heart of heart believe
in anything whatsoever as real—i. e. fit object
of trust—and inevitably he must be forsaken
or betrayed by that object This is a law
more stern than the Law of Gravitation, The
only Reality. Atman ( brings home to

us the delusion of seeing anything else as real.
No warder at the gate
Can keep the Jnani in ;

But like the Sun o*er all
He will the castle win.

And shine along the wall.

He waits, as waits the sky^

Until the clouds go by,

Yet shines serenely on
With an eternal day,

Alik when they are gone,

And when they stay,

LETFERS FROM THE HIMALAYAS 177

So long as any sort of desire clings to a
person, he cannot realize bliss. But

^ I

3151 II V { f ^: I

(B) Letters
No. 1
To

SwAMi Shivaganacharya, Tekri,

Kishangarh. 1902

Narayana,

Doctors say unless we feel appetite from
within we should take no food, however
delicious and hole-some it may be and
however much our dear friends and relatives
might coax us to eat it. All that you have
written is quite true. If I start at once, there
is a very good opportunity of enjoying the
company of both yourself and the worthy
Prime Minister of Kishangarh State, and of
being benefitted by your wise counsels. But
my inner voice bids me to wait, with the fore¬
boding that even better opportunities shall
present themselves when I am fully equipped.
Nothing daunted by my former failures—
if failures they can be called—I have every

178 IN WOODS OF GOD-REALIZATION

hope that abundant success shall attend my
future career. What I am doing here is exactly
what must have been the result of your'
thought of friendly consultation at Kishangarh.
We should, no doubt, be always on the alert
to avail ourselves of favourable opportunities.
But we should not be impatient either. Work
is all that is wanted. In order that I may
be able to inspire working power or energy
into our countrymen, I must start with a vast
store of accumulated energy myself. Let the
time come, you shall most certainly be with me.

If 1 have not to go about making fuss
about trifles but have to render some real
and lasting service to the Motherland, and if
I have to prove truly useful to our country, I
feel 1 require a little more preparation in order
to make myself equal to the stupendous task.

I am here making a thorough study of the
Shastras and of the highest Western thought
and am at the same time pursuing my own
independent researches. I have not to spend
my lifetime over this work. I shall soon be
imparting to or rather carrying into the busi¬
ness and bosom of humanity what I have been

IN WOODS OF GOD-REALIZATION 179

acqiring at the cost of incessant labour. I have
full conviction that I could, if I would, long
since, have caused a tremendous stir in the
country but I have a conscience and for no
personal glory, no gain, no threats, no immi¬
nent danger, not for fear of death even shall I
preach what I have not realised to be the
Truth.

If Truth has any power—as certainly it is
Infinite Power—the Rajas as well as the Sa-
dhoos, the nobility and the populace will all
ultimately have to bow before and yield homage
to the standard of Righteousness to be set up
by Rama Tirtha Swami. I have an aptitude
for this work, and it will be throwing away of
ray powers if through haste or impatience I
harness myself for a lesser work.

I have to preach, else why did I fondly
cherish that desire from my very childhood. I
have to preach, else what for did I renounce
my parents, wife, children, worldly position
and the bright prospects. Filled with the
divine fire 1 have to preach—boldly, fearlessly,
even in the face of all sorts of persecution and
opposition—what I am realising here.

180 LETTfRS FROM THE HIMALAYAS

Thankfully I accept your advice of keep¬
ing the money for my future use.

Regular exercise taken. Health Good.
Climate most excellent.

Wishing you and the Baboo Sahib
Shanti! Shanti I ! Shanti ! ! !

Rama Tirtha Swami,

( 2 )

To Brij Lal® Goswami,

Qaoungo, Jammoo State, Tehri, 1902.
Dharih,

Glad to know you are employed. Be always
honest and upright. Discharge your duties
faithfully. Devote some portion of your time
to the study of Bhagvad Gita and Yog Vasish-
tha every day. Never Neglect OM, ^

By your conduct prove yourself worthy of
the high family you belong to. Never yield
to temptations.

I

fills'll I

^Swami Rama’s nephew.

LETTERS FROM THE HIMALAYAS

I8I

To Panoit Ram dhan Sahib
Asstt. Settlement officer,

Bhimbar, Jammoo State, Kaudia 190^

Dearst Rama,

Ram Badshah lives in these days on the
summit of a high mountain commanding a
most picturesque view of the glaciers of Jum-
notn, Gangotri, Kedar and Badri. Gangi
lying at a distance of seven or eight miles is
visible from this place. Tow days’ journey
from the Railway Station Dehra Doon on the
road to Tehri, brings one to these exquisitely
delightful landscapes.

Dearest.

Give all to love ( ) ;

Obey thy heart ;

Friends, kindred, days.

Estate, good-fame,

Plans, credit* and the Muse,—

Nothing refuse,

Give all to love.

Rai Baij Nath is coming again here in the
middle of April.

( 4 )

SWAMl SHIVAGANACHARYA

Shanti Ashram,

Muttra.

Most Blessd Self,

1. Herewith is enclosed a letter from
Mr. A. N, Knapp. He will probably write
to you himself. His present address is uncertain
because he is soon going to leave Berkley.

2. Mrs. Eva A. Wellman left America on
the 23rd of October on board the Siberia.

« » » If she has not already ( before
you receive this letter) come to the Ashram,
you should please wire to her or write to her
immediately a letter of welcome. She desires

to be in the Ashram » * »

Your One Self.
RAM SWAMl.

letters from the HIMALAYAS

183

Enclosure to No. (4)
Bkrkley, California,

From a. N. KNAPP.

To RAM SWAMl,
Shasta Springs, California,
Brother & Friend,

Your very welcome and kind letter of
recent date came to hand. Adrian is grateful
for the booklets entitled “The Sermon on the
HiIL “A word of welcome;” &c., sent to him
by Ram. Adrian feels assured that Sadharana
Dharama 5abha has come to stay. It must
be so. Adrian’s reasons for making that staie-
rnem are the these; first, its principles are
backed by the truth; second, it is as near an
approach to a royal road to the goal as is
practicable under existing conditions; and, third
It IS certainly the beginning of the way by which
men may eome into a realization of the very
thing they are hankering for-whether they
know It or not. All the principles of Sadha¬
rana Dharama Sabha, from I to VIII. inclusive
touch a responsive chord in Adrian’s mind’
and, he would like to know more about the
Society. Will Ram kindly give Adrian the

184 IN WCX)ES OF GOD-RFALIZATION

ircaniDg of Scdharana Dharma Sobhct^ and,
also the meaning of the word Parmatman.
lAdrian feels an inclination to write to the
brothers in India, with the object in view of
learning more about the Society and the
philosophy it teaches; and perhaps, later on.
becoming one with the brothers in thought
and work.

( 5 )

To

SWAMI SHIVAGANACHARYA,

Shanti Ashram

Muttra.

Shasta Springs, California.

ReverSi^ Self,

® e ®

When the problem of India is looked at
in the light of the law of progress the crying
need for organization and combining up the
whole nation is sorely realized. The stray
divergent forces ought to be put in order.

® The Religion of Humanity or Simple Reli¬
gion Society, (Ram Swami).
t Self Supreme, R. S.

LETTERS FROM THE HIMALAYAS 185

Oh, how much does Ram wish ( and hope
and shaU ) to bring about clear understanding
and union between the different Samajas,
Sabhas and parties in India.

Would you please well consider the following
principles which Ram recommends for Sadha-
rana Dharma (or the common path ), consider
them yourself and comemunicate them to the
thinking people of India, and then publish
them either as addenda, if possible to the
old I. to VIII. principles or as a separate letter
from Swami Ram. In this respect suit your¬
self as you please.

Enclosure to No. (5)

THE EXISTING PRINCIPLES OF
SADHARANA DHARMA SABHAS
(Common Path Movement)

I. The essential cause of the universe, that main¬
tains it in order is the Almighty Parmatman.f

t -‘Parmatman, or Self supreme is an intelligent
bodiless Power. It is of course necessary to have
some word for conventional purposes and rtie best
word full of meaning is the Parmatmanr S. A.

1S5 iN WOODS OF GOD-REALIZATION

II. —Unseen, He sees the qualities, actions,
and inclinations of all individuals, tribes and
nations, and rewards them in the form of
pleasure or pain, rise, or fall.

III. —By gradually developing the moral,
physical, and spiritual powers, by making a
proper use of them, and by applying them
to the good of humanity', one can realize
the Parmatman.

IV. —All persons, who believe in the above-
mentioned principles, are eligible to become
members of the Sadharana Dharma Sabha.

V. —Every member, whilst advancing him¬
self practically, that is, developing and properly

^exercising his own physical, moral and spirit-
' Ual powers, ought to endeavour to ameliorate
the condition of his family, tribe, nation, and
the whole world, and to consider this act as
true Purusharth (exertion) and Paropkar (doing
good to others. )

VL—It is the duty of every member to
direct the attention . of the masses towards
religion (Dharma ), to lessen the differences
and prejudices of the various sects, and to
advocate toleration.

LETTERS

187

VII.—Books on religion and morality, like
the “Sadharan Dharma” ought to be read
and the instructions contained therein acted
upon with sincerity and earnestness, and others
should be induced to do the same.*

VIIL- All members ought to help as far as
possible all good Sadhus and other deserving
persons, who preach religion ( Dharma). ^

^“Taking the name of a religious book with
respect or reading it without understanding it or
indulging in useless discussion on the subject of
unimportant formulas or saying that all religions
are good aud their truths should be accepted,
will serve no useful purpose. It is necessary that
all books written in an easy intelligent style, trea¬
ting of the daily wants, moral and physiol and
giving directions in a toelrant and unprejudiced
manner to supply thoiie wants, should nor only
be read with care but thoroughly digested upon.
The Sadharana Dharma Pustaka is a book of
this kind and may be studied with advantage.
But it is mentioned as an instance only and in
fact any book as useful as or more useful than
that should cerainly be read and acted upon *’SjA.

188 IN WOODS OF GOD REALIZATION

PROPOSED PRINCIPLES

I. —Sadharana Dharma ( common path )
implies the path of conduct adapted to the
dictates of science, the injunctions of true
Vedanta and needs of the day. As it goes
hand in hand with advancing science and
moves with the present it is dynamical and
not static.

II. —The Common Path (Sadharana Dharma)
is open to people of any creed or no creed.
Those who profess other faiths need not dis¬
claim when they adopt Sadharana Dharma.

III. —Sadharana Dharma aims not to
establish Uniformity but Unity in variety
throughout the different cults and sects of
India, and by and by of the whole world.
Its object is as far as possible to make the
followers of each class more united to each
other and to secure sounder co-operation
between different classes or to minimize
individual jeolousy, class jealousy and
national jealousy by endeavouring to make
each individual class or nation excel in his
Or its own special work.

IV.—The Common Path aims te bring

LETTERS

189

about fellow feeling and kinship between
India and other countries of the world by
opening inler-comniunication through
Sadharana Dharma Missionaries.

V. —For every follower of Sadharana
Dharma, physical culture is as important as
study and spiritual meditation.

VI. Sadharana Dharma proposes to
supplement to some extent the work of State
Universities and to impart character-build¬
ing education to those who come as student.
Research work in Biology and other experi¬
mental sciences will be enhanced in addition
to arranging for regular lectures on Ancient
and Modern Philosophy. No pains will be
spared to popularize science and promote
original thinking.

^.further particulars about theSadha-

rana Dharma, vide Swcimi Rama as an advocate
of the Sadharana Dharma in “Various Aspects
of Swami Rama’s Life” and ‘The Fourteen
Gems of the Sadharana Dharma’. Both these
books can be had of the Rama Tirtha Publication
League, Lu;know.

—Editor.

LETTERS TO Mrs. WELLMAN
(Survananda)

The following is a letter from Mrs. Wellman.
rSuryanand) to Mr. Puran with extracts of 20
letters sent to her by Swami Kama from America
and India. ^

OM ! OM ! OM !

January^ 1907.

Shanti Ashram— Edendale,
Los Angeles. California, U. S. A.
DEAr and Most Blessed Puran,

O, the thrill of joy your letter brought me,
it seemed or was it true that the holy cons¬
ciousness of our Rama pervaded the letter
and my soul. Surely it is still true, as one of
his letters said to me ‘ Mother. Rama is always
with you,” and to spirit there is no limitation,
so do I believe, yea, am certain Rama is with
Puran. How holy and peaceful has been this
day. forerunner of that great Consciousness in
your letter with this as you request! I will
send some extracts of Rama’s letters to me,
also a few reminiscences of his sayings and

LEITERS TO MRS. WPLLMAN 191

%

doings. Always with loving impersonal atten¬
tion to the least of us, this great illumined
soul with this meekness of a child led our
hearts and minds upward to meet our God,
our own Divine Atma. O, the sweetness', the
gentleness of that great Consciousness mani¬
festing through the modern Rishi Rama ! God
was with us, and some of us, knew it not, and
still God is with us, and as the blessed Ram
often said, “there is no death,” he is not far
from those who have eyes to see or ears to
hear. It was just beginning the year 1903
when I first met this great soul. He was
lecturing in Sau Francisco, I went to hear him
reluctantly. But with his chant of OM my
mind was lifted, my very being vibrated with
a joy I never felt before, A heavenly, blissful
peace illumined me.

And 1 never missed another opportunity
to feed upon the bread of Life he so freely
gave. He also made an appeal to Americans
to help his people by going to India and
living as one of them in their very families.
Quite a number said they would go. But
not one of them went. One day I said to

192 IN WOOUi oF GOD-REALI2A.TION

him, “Swami Rama, for what you have
done for me, what can I do for your people
in exchange?” He said, “You can do a grea
deal if you will, but go to India. 1 will
eo” I replied. But friends dissuaded and
even derided me. Some said I was crazy
to think of going especially as I had not
sufficient money to return. But Rama said,
“If you really know Vedanta, >ou would
not fear, for you will find God in India the
same as in America.” So did God, the
Divine Intelligent Principle of life prove
His all sustaining power, through the
tender, loving care of my beloved Hindu
brothers and sisters, yea, my children. Yet
five months elapsed before I fulfilled my
promise to our blessed Rama and set sail
for his native country. Alone 1 not knowing
a person in that far off country, yet with
“Faith leaning on the sustaining arm ot the
Infinite” as taught by Rama. I
last at Shasta Springs, California. I had
but a few hours there before my tram lelt
for San Francisco. Never can I forget the
day in those hills with snowy Mount Shasta

LETTERS To MRS. WELLMAN 193

towering above our heads. Similarly, two
years and a half later I travelled several days’
journey through the Himalayas to Vias Muni
to bid this saint good-bye, as I was about
to return to Americ^i. It is impossible to pen
or relate that soul-stirring adieu. And the
last, this great soul laid off the body a few
months later.

Before setting sail for India, I received
several letters from the blessed Rama who
remained in Castle springs as well as in
Shasta (California) for sometime. He writes:—

( 1 )

Castle Springs,
California (U. S. A.)
June II, 1903.

My Dearest Beloved Self,

Need there be anything written or said.
Rama know everything, that is, you know
everything, but in spite of that Rama will
tell you of some things that transpired here
lately, bringing great happiness to Rama.
Everything brings pleasure to Rama.

194 IN WOODS OF GOD-RtALlZAl ION

On May 19, while Rama was stretched
on a boulder by the river side, there was
brought to Rama by the Manager of Dr.
Hiller’s place here a very lovely hammock,
sent unexpectedly by a friend from Seattle.
It was immediately suspended between a
green oak and a red fir tree, high up in the
air. With bubbling joy and overflowing
laughter Rama rolled himself up into the
hanging bed. The fragrant, gentle breezes
began to rock Rama to and fro, the river
went on with its OM melody. Rama laughed
and laughed and laughed. Did you hear
him ? A chirping robin was watching over¬
head when Rama was swaying back and
forth. Perhaps he was envious of Rama.
Was he 7 No, that cannot be, everj robin,
sparrow, or nightingale knows Rama to be
its own. At any rate when Rama left the
hammock for a while to let out the uncon¬
trolled inner pleasure in frisking about and
dancing, the pretty robin stole the sweet
opportunity to try a swing in the hammock.
Say, are not Rama’s little birdies and flowers
frolicsome, merry and free 7

LETTERS TO MRS. WELLMAN 195

May 20, noon. The President of the
United States, on his way to the North,
stopped at the Springs a while. The repre¬
sentative lady of Springs Company presented
iiim with a basket full of lovely flowers,
and immediately after that he accepted
from Rama most gracefully, lovingly and
cheerfully, the Appeal on behalf of India.
He kept the book in his right hand all the
time, and while responding with his right
hand to the salutations of the crowds, the
book naturally and spontaneously rose up
to his forehead at least a hundred times.
When the train started he was seen reading
it attentively in his carriage, and once more

he waved thanks to Rama from the leaving
train.

But lo ! Rama never invited the Presi¬
dent to the luxury of enjoying a swing in
the poetic hammock. Could you guess, why
not? Do guess, please. Well as you don*t
speak, Rama will tell you. The reason is
plain enough. The President of the so-
called free Americans is not a thousandth
part as free as Rama’s birdies and air.

196 IN WOODS OF GOD-REALIZATION

Never mind the President. You can be
free, even as free as Rama, and have air and
light as your faithful servants. Be Rama and
Rama will give you all—suns, stars, air, ocean,
clouds, forests, mountains, and what not.
Everything will belong to you. Is not that a
lovely bargain ? Is rt’t it dear ? Do have
everything, please.

At four in the morning, waked by the kisses
of Aurora and tickled to laughter by free
zephyrs, welcomed by the sweet songs of
carolling birds, Rama goes out walking on the
tops of mountains and the river side.

Come, let us laugh together, laugh, laugh,
laugh. Come Sun, my child, look into the
fearless smiling eyes of Rama and live close
to nature and Rama. The ecstasy itself is 1.

Your Self,
Rama.

LETTERS TO MRS. WELLMAN j^7

( 2 )

OM!

Shasta Springs, (Calif),

July 9, im.

Dear Blessed Self,

Your letter to hand. It is Truth and Truth
alone that is one's real friend, relative, nay, Self.

Abide by truth, tread the path of righteous¬
ness and not an hair of your body will ever
be injured

Read Yog Vasishtlia and Bhagvad Giti
over and over again.

Yours in Self
Rama So-Am-I.

( 3 )

Shasta Springs, California
October 8 1903.

Most Blessed Divine Mother,

• • . Rama thoroughly appreciates
every moment of yours, Rama is not selfish
enough to misunderstand, nor is there any
likelihood of ever forgetting one who has
become Rama in her love for India, Truth,

198 IN WOODS OF GOD-REALIZATION

and suffering Humanity. Surya means the
Sun { He gave me the name of Suryonanda )
and so docs Rama. “Resist not evil does
not mean become a passive nonentity; no, not
at all. The saying has no reference to the acts
of the body. It is a commandment touching
the mind, and mind alone, inculcating Peace
of mind Mental resistance, opposition and
revo/r always bring about discord, irritation
and worry; instead of “curling up’, and con-
sequently unbalancing yourself, overcome the
seeming evil by Love (Sacrifice or giving
nature) than which there is no higher force.

‘■Resist not evil," and welcome events
with the good cheer of a giver. Great souls
never lose their balance. By preserving our
calm we can always turn the stumbling blocks
into stepping stones. Never, never should you
let the feeling of helplessness cross your mind.

Just now the thought comes to Rama that
on reaching India you should at your earliest
convenience enquire about the whereabouts of
Puran who must be somewhere in the Punjab.
He is the Editor of the Thundering Dawn. No
introductory letters are necessary, for him.

LETTERS To MRS. WELLMAN

199

Hoping you will immediately write to
Rama after securing a birth.

Your own pure, heroic Self as
Rama Swami.

This letter was written to me when I was
undergoing a great mental strain in regard to
my contemplated journey to India, such
Opposition was raised against my going.

Suryananda.

(4)

OM!

Shasta Springs, California.

October 10, 1903.

Mother Dear,

Your dear letter with paper and envelopes
to hand. (I sent him a box of paper and
envelopes). You will be accorded a hearty
welcome when you step on that sympathetic
soD ( India ), Rama has already written to
India. In case you go there, you will
find your name outspeeding you. You arc
weicome wherever you want to break journey.
(In answer to a question he says,) “When we
give ourselves up to ievity^ frivolity and Jollity,

200 IN WOODS OF COD-REALIZATION

by an invisible Law of Nature we suffer from
the reaction which depresses us low down.
The wise man keeps his heart always at home
and interested only in the One Supreme Reality.

As to the things of the world, he attends
to them in the disinterested, dispassionate,
indifferent, and self-possessed mood of a mum-

fiDent princely giver. .

This noble attitude is kept up in all active
work. And in reference to passive experiences
the free soul undergoes them all unaffected,
unmoved, and in good cheer, vividly remember¬
ing all the time his nativt glory. *T am alone,
the One without a second. The Sun vs my sem¬
blance ” Constant meditation on your own real
Surya (sun) character and applying it to every¬
day affairs of life make your phenomenal
self, the highest manifestation of Love, Light,
and Life. You will write to Rama before ret¬
ting sail or embarkation. You should'also write
when you reach JapAn and Hongkong. Rama
will be ever so glad to do anything for you in

Your noble, lovely Self as

Rama.

r

LETTERS TO MRS, WELLMAN 201

(5)

OM!

Shasta Springs, California,

October \6, 1903.

Most Blessed Noble Surtananda,

Both your letters came to Rama's hands
simultaneously this noon. All is well and satis¬
factory. As you are going on a long trip, it
might prove beneficial for you to add a little
more to your knowledge of human nature, and
indelibly impress on your mind the importanc-.
of keeping ourselves perfectly collected, serene,
and at home all the time. (There was a delay
of a certain matter which gave me much uneasi¬
ness). The apparent delays and oppositions
arc all meant to add to your inner power and
purity. Naturalists have decisively shown that
no evolution or progress could ever take place
had it not been for struggles and opposition.

Do you remember the story of Robert Bruce
and the Spider ? "Is not every grand dis(X>very
preceded by hundreds, nay thousands of
unsuccessful attempts ?’* Early in the morning
you would do well to spend about half an hour
in repeating to yourself this Mantram (pardon

202 IN WOODS OF GOD-REALIZATION

omission of Mantram ). Be strongly instillinj;
into your very nature the truth involved in this
Mantram while repeating it. This kind of conti¬
nual autosuggestion will make a thorough Swami
(Sannyasin) of you. You will please soon write
as to what arrangements are made about your
passage. With deepest love and sincere treg; rd,

Your own Self,
Rama Swami.

( 6 )

Shasta Springs, California,
October 21, 1903

Most Blessed Divine Suryananda,

Yours of yesterday just to hand.

O ! What a happy news, sailing for India !
At Hongkong, if you call on Wassiamal Asso-
mal (near the Clock Tower), you might delighf
the Hindu merchants by telling them about the
happy state of Rama (Tirtha) Swami and your
own noble mission.

The people to whom letters have already
been given will furnish you satisfactorily with
the information about all local matters. You
need only start, everything else will run smooth

LETTERS TO MRS, WELLMAN 203

enough afterwards. Bear one thing in mind.
When you happen to visit the people of any
sect, NEVER, NEVER, NEVER, you attend to, mark,
or remember their criticisms of other parties.
If you find any spirit of devotion, divine love,
charity, or spiritual knowledge anywhere^ take
it up, absorb it, assiniilale it, and have no time
to pick up any body’s jealousy. Don’t notice
their drawbacks and weaknesses. '

Forget not to see Seth Sita Ram in Calcutta.
You might also pay a visit whilst in Calcutta
to the learned Editor of The Dawn^ an unassu¬
ming, pure, self-denying, devoted, orthodox
Vedantin. He also successfully carries on an
educational and boarding Institution. In
Calcutta you could also enjoy the Sankirtan,
devotional dance.

Mother India will receive you as always
a loving mother does a returning child estran¬
ged for years and years. Adieu for the present.
Rama is always with you.

Passage to India !

O I we can wait no longer !

We too take ship, O soul !

To youj we too launch out on trackless seas !

2()4 IN WOODS OF god-realization

Fearless for unknown shores. On waves of

-r ecstacy,

io sail, Arnid tlie wafting winds

Carolling free,—singing our song of God I

Chanting our chant of happpy soothing OM !

Passage to India I

Sailing these seas, or on the hills, or waking

in the night,

Thoughts, silent thoughts of Time and Space
and Death like waters flowing,
Bear me indeed as through the regions infinite
Whose air I breathe, whose ripple.

Bathe me, O God in Thee, mounting to Thee,

I and my soul to range, in range of Thee,
Passage to Mother India [

Reckoning ahead, O’ soul, when Thou the time

achieved.

The seas all crossed, weathered the copes, the

- , , . voyage done,

burrendered, copest, frontest, God.

Yieldest, the aim attained.

As filled with friendship, Love complete,

The Elder Brother found,

The younger melts in fondness in his arms.
Passage to India. 1

LETTERS TO MRS. WELLMAN 205

Are thy wings plumed indeed for such far

flight ?

O soul, voyagest thou indeed on voyages like

these

Soundest below the Sanskrit and the Vedas I
Then have thy bent unbashed.

Passage to you, your shores, ye aged fierce

enigmas,

Passege to you> to mastership of you, you
Strangling problems,

Passage to mother India,

O Secret of Earth and sky 1
Of you, O waters of the sea !

O winding creeks and Ganges 1
Of you, O woods and fields !

Of you, O mighty Himalayas,

Of morning red ! O clouds ! O rain and snows,
O day and night, passage to you !

O sun and moon, and all ye stars,

Sirius and Japiter, passage to you I
Passage, immediate passage !

The blood burns in my veins I
Away, O soul, hoist instantly the anchor,

Gut the bowsers haul out—shake out every

sail.

206 IN WOODS OF GOD-REALIZATION

Have we not stood here like trees in the ground

long enough ?

Sail forth, steer for the deep waters only,

For we are bound where marinei has not yet

dared to go,

And we will risk the ship ourselves and all.

0 my brave soul 1
0 father, father, sail.

O daring joy but safe
O father, father, sail
To your real Home.

Rama

(7)

^

^ ^

OM

Chicago, Illinois.

February 75, 790^.

Most Blessed Self,

Your numerous letters, the telegram, arid
all came duly to Rama’s hands. When there
is but one Reality, who should thank whom ?
Rama is filled with joy, Rama is all peace.
Work Hows from Rama. Rama doeth no
work. Be thou the fragrant rose, and sweet

LETTERS TO MRS. WELLMAN 207

aroma will waft of itself all around from thee,
me ! me.

Do you feel yourself a Hindu with your
whole heart ? Do you realise their errors and
superstitions as your own ? Could you trust
them as your own brothers and sisters ! Did
you ever forget your American birth and find
yourself transfigured into a Hindu born, as
Rama often sees himself a deep dyed bigoted
Christian ? If so, wonderful work will ema¬
nate from you spontaneously !

Who are you ? Who are you who go about
to save the lost ? Are you saved yourself ?

Do you know that ‘^whosoever would save
his life, must lose it ? Are you then one of the
lost ? Could you or would you be one of the
lost ? Arise then and be a saviour. Be a sin¬
ner—Realize your oneness him, and you
can save him. There is no other way but this
one way of love, to conquer all.

OM ! OM !

Your own Self as

SwAMi Rama.

208 IN WOODS OF GOD REALIZATION

( 8 )

OM!

Minneapolis, M. N., U. S. A.

Aprin, 1904.

Most Blessed Self,

Where are you ? No letter was received from
dear, noble mother after the happy New Year
letter, written at Muttra. Peace, Peace, Peace
comes from within. The kingdom of heaven
is within alone. In books, temples, shrines,
prophets, and saints—in vain, in vain the search
after happiness. Your experience must have
shown it by this time. If the lesson is once
learnt, it is not dearly bought, no matter how
much it costs. Sit alone, convert your very
anguish into Divine Bliss, you may receive in¬
spiring suggestions from books like The Thunder¬
ing Down. Meditate on OM ! and be a giver of
peace to mankind and not an expectant seeker.
Dear one, do you remember the last talk Rama
gave you on the side of the Creek at Shasta
Springs ? It was -given not as a seeker^ but as
the perpetual giver of Light and Love. Our
hearts break when we are in the seeking atti¬
tude. You must have verified the state of

LETTERS TO MRS. WELLMAN 209

affairs in India as described in Rama’s Appeal
to Americans. Read that lecture once more,
if you please. Don’texpectany/mmcf/Zare, osten¬
sible results from your labour of love. *‘Be
contented to serve,” says the spirit of Christ.
We cannot receive any gift, benediction or re¬
ward higher than the privilege of serving. If
you have not met Babu Ganga Prasad Varma,
Editor of the advocate, Lucknow, do please see
him. Does your heart take more delight in
sharing the sufferings of poor Hindus in India
or enjoying the comforts of life in America ?
(So much so) I want to be again in India.

OM! OM!

Rama was one month in Portland, Oregon,
one month in Denver, two weeks in Chicago,
and a couple of weeks in Minneapolis. Vedanta
societies arc organized at these places. Free
scholarships for poor Hindu students are
secured at different Universities. From here
Rama goes to Buffalo, N. Y. Thence to Boston,
New York, Philadelphia, and Washington D.C.
On June 29, 30 and3l, Rama is to be at the
meetings of the World’s unity League, St.
Louis. In July Rama is to be at Lake Geneva.

210 IN WOODS OF GOD-REALIZATION

In next fall Rama comes to London. England.
Be not discouraged, mother dear. Look only
at the sunny side of things. There is no rose
without a thorn, unmixed good is not to be
found in this world. The All Good is only
the Self Supreme. If India had Vedanfrt
(Truth) in practice, what necessity would there
have been for Appeal to America ? When your
heart is perfectly attuned to the Beauty of AH,
you will find every thing glorious every-where.

Peace ! Peace !! Peace !!!

Central Bliss, Inner Joy for ever and
for ever.

Your own Self as

SwAMi Rama.

(9)

OM!

William’s Bay, Wis, or Lake Geneva.

/w/y 8, 1904.

Most Blessed Divine Self,

Your letters reached Rama, Thank you.
Rama understands the situation through and
through. Peace, joy and success shall ever
abide with thee. There is no fear, nor danger

LETTERS To MRS. WELLMAN 211

nor difficulty of any kind for a pure soul having
cast aside the sense of possession and desire.
I stretch myself in the Universe, and rest free !
free ! The viper in the breast is the little “I”.
Fling it aside, and all the world pays you
homage. On Rama s return from Minnea¬
polis, a long, type-written letter was mailed to
your noble self for publication in the Practical
Wisdom, The subject of the letter was Prac¬
tical Wisdom. The first meeting of the

world s Unity League at St. Louis was opened
under Rama’s presidency. In addition to
Rama’s lectures at the Unity League, talks
were also given under the auspices of the
Theosophical Society and the Church of
Practical Christianity at St. Louis, besides some
other places. Rama goes to Chicago in a few
days, thence to Buffalo, Lily Dale, and Green-
acre Maine, and leaves America in September
or before.

Peace, Blessings, and love to all.

Your own Seif as
SwAMi Rama.

212 IN WOODS OF GOD-REALIZATION

( 10 )

OM !

Jacksonville, Florida,

October 1, 1904.

Most Blessed Dear divinity.

Rama has not written anything to you for

some time. It is because—

(1) Rama has been ever so busy.

(2) Wrote no letter to any person in
India except the few letters for
the Press.

(3) Knowing that you were in good
hands Rama did not think letters
from him needful.

(4) Since leaving Minneapolis Rama
received no fetters from you.

Peace, Blessing, Love and Joy abide with
you for ever and ever.

In following your own inner voice truly,
you can be false to no one. We owe nobody
an> thing. Let our labour be the labour of
love. To be ever sound and solvent should
be our maxim.

Let everybody have his or her experience
free. The only right we have is to serve and

LETTERS TO MRS. WELLMAN 213

help our fellowmen in their onward march.
But let the march be really onward and uot a
make-believe progress. When 1 help my friends
in their spiritual retrogression, I fall myself
with them. Whatever you do, wherever you
are, Rama’s blessings and love are with you.
Day after to-morrow Rama starts for New
York and on 8th October most probably
embarks on board Princess Irene for Gibralter.
It will probably be some time before reaching
India because there is likelihood of stopping
at many places on the way.

Motto to remember and to practise

If you know any thing unworthy of a
friend,/orge/ it.

If you know any thing pleasant about the
person, tell it.

He sits high in all the people’s hearts if
he chucks out that which would appear offence
in us

His countenance, like richest alchemy will
change to virtue and to worthiness. The sun¬
like attitude of a fearless, continuous Giver,
serving without hope of reward, shedding light
and life out of free love, living in Divine

214 IN WOODS OF GOD-REALIZATION

radiance as God’s glory, above all sense of
personality, exempt from selfishness, is Salva¬
tion and Redemption.

‘*1 eat of the heavenly manna,

I drink of the heavenly wine.

God is within and around me-
All gof>d is for ever mine.”

Your own Self,
SwAMi Rama.

, (The following from Mrs. Wellmnn has no date)
“0 the joy of the perusal of these precious
letters ! and to copy them gives a greater light,
joy, holy, uplifted consciousness. Dear Puran,

I know they will give you joy, and be a help
to whom you in turn give. A complete copy,
it is impossible to give. The aura of the bles¬
sed divine master pervades the paper and all
the lines he has penned, I treasure them above
all else. The very presence of Rama is with
me when I read those gracious lines inspiring ;
yea. illumining my mind and heart, until the
soul’s brightness is perceptible; and my Atma,
real Self Divine, is the only reality.”

Suryananda.

LETTERS TO MRS. WELLMAN

215

( 11 )

Joy ! Joy !! Joy !!!

OM! ^ OM!

(The following letter was written by Swami
Kama to Mrs. Wellman on his arrival in India
from America.)

Bombay.

Most Blessed Dear Mata.

Rama has been in Bombay five days and
will soon come to Muttra. Lectures and enga¬
gements kept Rama busy all along. Rama is
infinitely happy as usual. Rama is so glad to
learn you are still in India. Wishing you per¬
fect health, cheerful spirits, peaceful heart, and
blissful mind, and hoping to see you in Muttra.

Yours in Self.

Swami Rama TiRmA.

( 12 )

OM! ^ OM !

Anand ! Anand ! ! Anand III
Dear Puran,

You know how we all met in Muttra and of
the meetings. What a Blessed, blessed, time
was that. Om, Om I

216 IN WOODS OF GOD-REAUZATION

PUSHKAR,
February 14, 1905.

Most Blessed Dear Mother Divine,

A Graduate of the Bombay University, a
beautiful young man, has offered his life to
Rama’s work to day. He will stay with Rama
assisting in literary work. How good is Provi¬
dence or dear God. Jt or He never deceives
those who work in trust on Him.

Narayana Swami will soon be sent to
lecture abroad.

The work in nooks and corners is as grand
as the work in the bright centres. In a Persian
wheel, the small tooth-like wooden support
(called kutta in Hindustani) is just as impor¬
tant as the oxen. The whole mechanism
cannot stand if the poor wooden support
be taken off. Nay, every nail attached to
the spokes is of paramount importance.
What if children do not make use of such
apparently small things In the eyes of »
God, work, however humble, is just as grand
when done in the spirit of Love. The puny
dewdrop appears nothing before Xht glorious
Sun, but the observant eye sees that this very

LETTERS TO MRS. WELLMAN 217

tiny drop reflects ihc whole of the solar orb
in its sueet little borom. So my blessed dear
mother, soft, silent work in neglected quarters
unknown to name and fame is just as noble
and indispensable as loud noisy work which
attracts the attention of whole mankind. I
had been despondent over the little I seemed
to be doing. “They also serve who only stand
and wait.” The mother swathes the tender
babe; and when Time brings him to the Uni¬
versity, the Professor lectures to the grown-up
boy. the mother’s role is not so high-flown
and reputation-bearing as that of the Professor,
Nevertheless the mother’s duty is far more sweet
and important than the Professor’s. We cannot
suffer the maternal lap and the lullaby in child¬
hood replaced by Professor’s room and lectures.

Vedanta requires a common coolie to look
upon his humble labour to be just as impor¬
tant and sacred as that of a Christ or Krishna.
When we move one leg of a chair, do we not
move the whole chair ? So when we raise or
elevate one soul, we raise and ennoble the
whole world through him, so rigid is the
solidarity of man.

218 IN WOODS OF god-realization

Bounded by themselves, and unregardful
In what state God’s other work may be.

In their own tasks all their pouring powers.
These attain the mighty life you see.

O air-born voice ! Jong since severely clear,

A cry like thine in mine own heart I hear.
Resolve to be thyself: and know Jhat he who
finds himself loses his misery.

OM!

Joy ! Joy 1 OM ! Peace ! Blessing ! Love.

Rama.

(13)

PUSHKAR.

(District Ajmer.)

February 22, J905.

OM ! Peace I Blessings! Love ! Joy 1
Most Blessed Divine Mother,

Your sweet, heavenly letter received. It
is indeed wonderful unison with God, and
marvellous harmony with Love, to have such
beautiful control over the physical as blessed
Suryananda has (I had been ill, and healed by
divine power. Love).

219

LITERS TO MRS. WELLMAN

OM ! Joy ! Jai ’■ J^' -

The poem you sent was very fine.

God moves in a mysterious way
His wonders to perform I
He plants His footsteps in the sea
And rides upon the storm.

Deep in unfathomable mines
Of never failing skilb
He treasures up His bright designs
And works His Sovereign Will.

Ye fearful saints, fresh Courage take.

The clouds ye so much dread
Are big with mercy and shall break
In blessings on your head.

Behind a frowning province
He hides a smiling face.

The bud may have a bitter taste
But sweet will be the flower.

Yes, Babu Jyoti Swarupa is indeed a most
blessed heavenly incarnation of goodness. He
is so kind.

Your own Self as

SwAMi Rama Tirtha.

220 IN WOODS OF GOD-REALIZATION

(14)

PtJSHKAR, Ajmer District.

OM ! Joy ! Joy ! OM ! Peace !

Blessed Mother Divine,

Rama had been lying on the roof where
you sat with him.

(Through the generous kindness of the Prime
Minister at Kishangnrh T was permitted to spend
a day with the blessed Rama at Pushkar)

Lost in divine consciousness, unconscious
till your letter along with some others was
brought and placed in Rama’s hands. A long,
loud, hearty and happy laughter was sent to
your blessed self, before opening the letter.
OM ! Peace ! Peace ! Peace ! Dearest mother,
Rama sends you another peal of joyful laughter
after reading your sweet letter.

Mother, you are all right every way, and
Rama thoroughly understands your pure, sweet,
tender, gentle nature, Rama is writing on
different subjects,—prose and some poetry—
according to God’s dictation.

Babu Ganga Prasad Varma was to go out
to other provinces in India, visiting the Girls’
schools and watching the Female Education

LEXERS TO MRS. WELLMAN 221

System abroad, with the view of introducing
speedy Female Education Reforms in Lucknow
and elsewhere. This work was entrusted to
him by the Local Government. For this reason
he could not come to see Rama before March.
Rama probably won’t stay on the plains in
summer. Rama loves Kashmir and would
highly enjoy your benign company and that
of Rai Bhawani Das and other friends. Rama’s
presence and talks would benefit innumerable
hungry souls, if Rama could go with you to
Kasiimir. But mother divine, the highest
privilege that a person can enjoy is the conti¬
nuous burning of the heart mind, body and
all at the altar of • Truth and Humanity, and
this is the vvay.acceptable to tl.e Supreme Spirit
in the form of the Impersonal, unadulterated,
small, still voice from within.

‘‘If duty can to brazen walls,

How base the fool who flinches.^*

Mpther, consecrated life often goes led by
some mysterious Divine reason that cannot
be analysed.

Rama may accompany you to Kashmir but

222 IN WOODS OF GOD REALIZATION

nothin^ definite can be said till the very mo¬
ment of departure.

Your own Self,
Rama Tirtha.

(15)

OM

Jaipur,

March 9, 1905.

Most Blessed Dearest Divinity,

You prophecy about Rama’s coming has
proved true so far that Rama has left Pushkar.
Which way Rama goes from here, he leaves
in the hands of the Supreme Providence (the
Surya of Surya) to decide when the time comes.
Two lectures were delivered in Ajmer Town
Hall. They are going’to arrange for lectures
in the Town Hall at Jaipur. Puran had been
to Pushkar, and wandered with Rama on the
hills for two or three days. How sweet is Dil-
jang Singh ! People are coming in crowds to
see Rama, and this must be closed. God and I!

All this day we will go together, the night
ever insatiate of love we will sleep together
and rise early'and go forward in the morning

LETTERS TO MRS. WELLMAN

223

wherever the steps shall lead, in solitary places
or among the crowd, it shall be well. We
shall not desire to come to the end of the
journey nor consider what the end may be.
Is not the end of all things with us already ?

OM ! OM ! OM !

Soon will Rama be beyond the reach of
letters-in forests, on hills, in God, in you.
Don’t know when next you may hear from.

Your own Self,
Rama

Peace, Blessings, Love betide thee for ever.

(K?)

OM I

Hardwar
Thursday Evening

Most Blessed Dear Mother,

Your prophecy has come out true and
Rama is coming to Dehra and his Divine
mother. But people out of extreme love stop¬
ped Rama at several places on the way. Lectures
have been delivered at Alwar, Moradabad,
Ajmer and Jaipur, Rama stopped at Hardwar,
parting company on the train with our beloved,

224 IN WOODS OF GOD-REALIZATION

blessed Babu Jyoti Swarupa. The people here
have come to know about Rama*s presence,
and they most lovingly implore Rama to
prolong his stay. Rama also does not think
it worth while to lose this opportunity to do
what he can to improve the condition of the
youthful Sadhus and others who are wonder¬
fully receptive and hungry for anything pro¬
ceeding from Rama. Work among the Sadhus.
mother, is just what you wanted Rama to
undertake, when we met at Muttra. Very
lovely Swamis are taking in Rama’s teachings.

Rama went up to the temple of Chandi
on the opposite side of the Ganges to-day.
The temple lies on the top of a lovely little
hill. The forest on that side at the river is
very thick, and the scenery most picturesque.
The view of the Ganges, as branching into
scores of streams, and turnings, is extremely
beautiful. The Himalyan glaciers present a
golden or diamond spectacle from the Chandi’s
Temple.

Blessed One,

Neither praise nor blame,

Neither friends nor foes,

LETTERS To MRS. WELLMAN

225

Neither love nor hatred.

Neither body nor its relationsj
Neither home nor strange land.

No ! Nothing of this world is important.
God is ! God is real. God is the only reality.

Let everything go, God. God alone is the
all in all. Peace immortal falls as rain drops.
Nectar is dropping in the rain drops. Rama’s
mind is full of peace. Joy flows from him.

Happy is Rama, and ever happy are you,
dear mother.

Peace ! Blessing !

Love I Joy ! Joy ! OM ! OM !

Love, Blessing, Joy to your pupils, hostess
and host (Babu and Mrs. Jyoti Swanipa.)

Your own Self,
Rama

(17)

July 5, 1905.

Most Blessed Dear Self,

Rama’s letter sent about a week ago to
your Mussorie address may have reached your
noble Mif before this. Rama cannot go to
Kashmir this summer. So you may leisurely

226 IN WOODS OF god-rkalization

enjoy your pleasure trip to Kailas, Man Saro-
var and other places. In the picturesque
mountain scenes, you will surely feel at home
at the sight of landscapes reminding you ol
the seenes earlier in life in blessed Ameriea.

Rama is very happy 1 , j j

Id the floods of life, in the storm of deeds

Up and down 1 fly?

Hither and thither weave,

From birth to grave.

An endless web,

A changing sea
Of glowing life.

Thus in the whistling loom of time
I fly weaving the living robe of Deity.

OM !

Your ownself,

Rama.

LETTERS TO MRS. WELLMAN

227

(18)

OM !

August 10, i905.

Blessings ! Joy !

Peace ! Peace !

Most Blessed Dear Mother,

Your letter was received a few days ago.
But Rama has replied to no letters lately. To¬
day are finished three very useful books that
Rama has been writing in the vernacular for
the people. How is your health now ? Rama
wishes you perfect health and strength.

OM ! OM ! OM !

To arrange for your passage to America
after all not a hard matter, but we want you
to remain with us. Perhaps it is selfish, but
you also love the people here. Are you sure
that the feebleness of the physique is due only
to the Indian climate, and return to America
will cerainly do you good ?. If so, none of us
should insist on keeping you here. We should
all help to see you arrive safely in California.

Peace I Heartfelt-Blessings ! Love !

Hope this letter will see you in good health.

OM! Rama.

228 IN WOODS OF GOD reaCizahon

(19)

OM ! OM ! OM !

Peace ! Blessings ! Love I Joy ! Joy !

Darjeeling

Most Blessed Dear Divinity,

Perhaps you know already Rama is on the
hills about a thousand miles from Mussorie.
Rama lives all alone in an old house belonging
to the Bengal Forest authorities. Away from
the railway line, removed from the Post Office,
beyond reach of visitors and callers, surroun¬
ded by a scenery among the richest in the
world, with beautiful rills, and springs running
at short distance from it, and when the weather
is fair, commanding a distant view of the
world’s highest mountain, Mt. Everest. Even
here fresh milk is brought to Rama by the
mountaineers living in the woods. Walks in
the woods and study fill up Rama’s time.

What are name, fame, ambitions, wealth,
achievement and all, when “man in the woods
with God may meet” ? Why should we catch
and cherish the fever of doing ?

Let us be divine. The morning breeze
blows and is not anxious how many and what

LETTERS TO MRS. WELLMAN 229

sort of flowers bloom. It simply blows on
everything, and those buds that are full ripe
to sprout, open their eyes. The dens of lions,
the burning jungle, the dingy dungeons, the
earthquake shocks, the falling rocks, the
storms, battlefields and the gaping graves, if
accompanied by God-consciousness in us, are
far sweeter than pomp, honour, glory, thrones,
luxuries, retinue and all, when with these a
man is not/f//njc//’in inner solitude one with
the One without a second. Oh ! the joy of the
finished purpose, light steps going about
making every step our goal, every night the
bodily death, and every day our new life.”

Farewell, friends, and part,

The mansion universe is too small.

I and my love alone will play, Oh !

The joys of swimming together !

Together ? No. The joy of swimmers dissolved

rolling as the ocean !

OM ! Joy ! Joy !

Your own Self,
OM.

230 IN WCMDDS OF GOD-REALIZATION

( 20 )

(The following is also a portion and the
last received by me.)

Om I Peace ! Peace ! Disciple ! Up !

Untirinp hasten to bathe thy breast in the

morning red,

“As journeys this earth, her eye on a Sun.
through the heavenly spaces and radiant in azure,
or sunless swallowed in tempests.’^

Halters not, journeying equalsunlitjorstorragirt,
So thou, son of earth, who hast force, goal and

lime , go still onward."
*'As the light the sun in the rain mist,

As the stars reflect in the sea ;

So what to my wonder seems vastest
Is but a reflection from Me.

And all things that my spirit rtvereth,

All grandeurs my heart would enshrine,

By command of the silence that heareth
Already for ever were mine.

AH arguments may fail,

All formal cieeds prove false,

Only the limping soul needs Logic's crutches,
While to the pure in heart the very air breathes.
And the very ground pulses with truth.

LETTERS TO MRS. WELLMAN

231

Nature and God within man’s heart .ire one
Why should I pray? Since all things far and

near

But answer to my spirit’s most needs.

I bring my joy, my gratitude, my luve.

I enter into life fearless and confident,

I cleanse myself from every hateful thought,

I make my daily toil a song of praise.

I love the earth and feel its very life is part

of me.

My only.prayer is gladness which I love,
Why should 1 make appeal forhelp from some

far source ?

Since life is mine, since 1 am one with Him
Who is my life*”

OM I

Your Self,
Rama

Dear Puran,

1 am happy to share these precious letters.
We were both Rama’s disciples. O mother
India, my heart leaps to thee. Dear children,
fail not remember Suryananda.

The student of thy modern Rishi is ever,

232 IN WOODS OF god-realization

ever mindful of thee. Let us awake out of
this body death, this Babylon of confusion.
Let us return to our father’s house enriched
with the experience of mortality. “Let the
deal past bury its dead.” Let the dead present
on burying its dead. We will listen to the
voice speaking in us, and not be ashamed of
God. We will call ourselves by that one name,
for we are born of God, Sexless and United
in the “I Am.”

Thou art the word of the Lord God and
thou Shalt endure for ever. All life is invisible.

■ Only such as have ceased to see perso¬
nality, can know the Infinity ol being ” The
narrow-minded ask, “Is this one of our tribe
(caste)? But the twice-born (Born of Truth)
arc of noble disposition. The whole world is
but one family.” (Gita).

Light and Love are one. Thou art the
self-illuminating one.

“Hatred stirreth up strife but Love covereth
all sins.”

A man’s heart desireth his way. But the
Lord direcieth his steps.

LETTERS TO MRS. WELLMAN 233

“Memory^s records, sad though sweet can

lose their influence never !**

Dear Puran, 1 wish I might send money
with this to publish all you desire.

1 trust, dear Puran, that you will not
defer answering this, as I shall want to
know if you received it.

Love to your mother, to your wife, also
kindly remember me to those who may
enquire. I have written two letters to Babu
Jyoti Swarupa since receiving any reply
from him. What has become of Swami
Shivgan Acharya? Please tell me if he is still
at Muttra. If you see Dear Rama’s people or
can send them word of my Love for them,
please do so. Thou knowest in the Kingdom
of Truth. Love, Wisdom, we are one ! OM !
OM ! OM ! Ever, As Ever Mother.

Address, Station M. Lo*s Angeles, Cali¬
fornia, U. S. A.

National Anthem
1

God bless our ancient Hind.

Ancient Hind, once glorious Hind,

From Sugar Island to the Sind,

234 IN WOODS OF GOD-REALIZATION

May perfect peace e'er reign therein.

God bless our peaceful Hind,

2

Let all her sons in love unite
And make them do their duty aright.

Fill them with knowledge ever true
And let their virtue shin anew.

3

Your aid the country doth implore.

Give her a hearing, oh, once more,

National spirit in her do pour,

Extend her fame from shore to shore.

God bless once powerful Hind.

4

O Krishna of mighty deeds untold.

O Rama ever so brave and bold,

Forsake them not in evil days
Unworthy though in many ways,

God bless our helpless Hind.

Rama’s Lover.

SwAMi Rama.

The following poem was read at a Farewell
meeting held on the occasion of Swami Rama's
departure for India.

I Like golden Oriole neath the Pines,

LETTERS TO MRS. WELLMAN

235

Rama chants to us his blessed lines.
Rich freighted with the Orient's lore
He spreads it on our Western shore.

A bird of passage on the wing.

He brings^ message from the King.
And this his clear resounding call
All, all for God and God for all !

His message given, he flits afar
Like swiftly coursing meteor,

But leaves of Heavenly fire a trace—

A new-born love for all his race.

Adieu ! Sweet Rama, thy radiant smile
A soul in Hades would beguile,

And though we may nol meet again
Upon this changing earthly plane,

We know to thee all good must be,

For thouVt in God and God in thee.

OM ! OM! OM 1

LETTERS To Mrs. PAULINE WHITHMAN

(Kamalananda)

Her mother (Champa) and her sister
(.From Original manuscripts)

c

Shasta Springs,
July 22, 1903.

Dear Blessed Champa (Flora),

Perhaps you would not like to be addressed
that way. But whether you do or not, Rama
feels inclined to call you by that name. In
the East Indian’s (Hindus) language every
name has a remarkable significance, and the
name Champa (usually given to girls of. noble
and high families) literally means sweet-scented,
full blown white Jessamine

This name naturally and spontaneously
occurred to Rama just when the pen was
handled to write this letter. It can be writlen-
Chompa —or Chumpa.

The other day a long letter was dictated to
Kamala rPauline) in answer to all your queries.
Did you receive the letter from her ? It con¬
tained also some recent poems of Rama.

LETTERS TO MRS. PAULINE WITHMAN 237

Vedantic Directions.

1. Vedantic Religion may be summed up
in the single commandment—

Keep yourself perfectly happy and at rest
no matter what happens sickness, death,
hunger, calmny, or anything.

Be cheerful and at peace on the ground of
your Godhead to which thou shalt ever be true.

2. The world - its inmates, relations and
all are vanishing quantities if you please to
assert the Majesty of your real Self.

Inspect, observe and watch or do anything;
but do all that in the light of your True Self,
that is to say, forget not that your Self is
above all that and beyond all want.

You really require nothing. Why should
you feel a desire for anything ? Do your work
with the grace of a Universal Ruler, for plea¬
sure, fun, or mere amusement’s sake. Never,
never feel that you want anything.

3. When you Jive these principles of
Vedanta, spontaneously will the sweet aroma
of Truth proceed in all directions from you.

Before falling asleep—when the eyes begin
to close every night or noon make a firm

238 IN WOODS OF GOD-REALIZATION

resolve in your mind to find yourself an embo¬
diment of Vedantic Truth on waking up.

When you wake up, before doing anything
else just bring to your mind vividly the deter¬
mination dwelt upon before falling asleep.

Whenever you can, just chant or hum to
yourself OM.

This way like a true, genuine Champa you
will be shedding delicious fragrance and char¬
ming glory all around you all the- time.

Loud outcries and wounds which once would

hurt and smart.

Now sound so sweet..dike hymns of praise or

music’s balmy art.

O thief, 0 slanderer, robber dear t

Look sharp, come, welcome, quick, 0 don’t

you fear.

My self is thine, thine is mine,

Yes, if you don’t mind.

Please take away, these things you think, are

'mine.

Yes, if you think it fit,

Kill this body, at one blow.

Or slay it bit by bit.

Take off the body and all you may,

LETTERS To MRS. PAULIW WHITMAN 239

Be off with name and fame, away !

Take off, away !

Yet if you look just turning round,

‘Tis I alone am safe and sound.

Good day [ O dear, Good day !

Notes for Kamala,

The true way to bring about Vedantic
Socialism is to enjoy our Now and here, irres¬
pective oi wealth or poverty, to such a degree
that the rich may fee) their poverty before us.
and rise above their sense of possession. The
greatest mistake made by the present-<iay
Socialist is that they envy the drop of sea-spray
possessed by the socalled wealthy, instead of
pitying their burden.

Those who have a mind to enjoy can enjoy
the diamonds shining in the brilliant star-lit
skies, can derive abundance of pleasure from
the smiling forests and dancing rivers, can reap
inexhaustible joy from the cool breeze, sun¬
shine and moonlight freely placed at the service
of each and all by Nature.

Those who believe their happiness depends
upon particular conditions, w)li find the day of

240 IN WOODS OF GOD-REALIZATION

enjoyment ever recede from them and run
away constantly like will-o-the-wisp. The so
called wealth of the world instead of being a
source of happiness only serves as an artificial
screen to shut out the glory and aroma of all
Nature—heavens and free scenery.

There is no artificial music which can ever
come up to the natural flow of one’s own feel¬
ings whether in the form of silent tears or
solitary laughter, or lonely dabbling in poetry.

All artificial music and especially phono¬
graphic music being heard over and over again
ultimately jars on the ears and brings down
the Soul to the material plane.

Why should we quarrel over an equal
distribution of stones and pebbles ?

Kamala can well afford to let the so-called
rich people make fools of themselves in claim¬
ing an exclusive possession of the disease
called wealth.

Himalayan Solitude
{To continue for some years yet)

(The same matter as that of Himalayan
scenes No. V given on pages \1$ it seg. toge¬
ther with the following

LETTERS TO MRS. PAULINE WHITMAN 241

... Deep meditation, study of Vedic Scrip¬
tures, and writing on Philosophy and Religion
keep Rama busy all the time in this lofty
solitude. No village within eight miles. One
servant lives at a distance of one mile down
the hill to prepare food for Rama. For many
months Rama wrote or answered no letters
of any kind, giving up all correspondence.

K and O. ( Kamla and Om) need not
hurry for India.

Everything will come out in due time beauti¬
fully without any impatience on our parts.
Just live in God, as God.

Not the body, not the mind,

No relations, no connections,

Constitute your Self.

Nothing but God is,

Nothing but God is your Self.

Peace, Blessings, Joy to the most blessed
Girja and Champa.

Ashtavakra Gita translated by a dear blessed
friend of Rama is sent herewith under sepa¬
rate cover.

1. Let nothing be committed in the
capacity of little self or personality.

242 IN WOODS OF GOD-REALIZATION

2. Let US live as if the body, etc., never
were (existed).

An ancient Vedic hymn is partly translated
below being originally composed by a Hindu
lady.

3. By me, whoever sees, or breathes, or
hears what is said, eats food : they know it
not but are under my control. Listen one
and all, verily it is so.

4. I blow as the wind blows, taking hold
of all worlds ; past heaven, past earth : I am
all might.

5. 1 am Law. the inevitable. I am Truth,
the inexorable. I bend the bow for Nature
that her arrow may smite down the people
who live not God-life.

Over heaven is my reign, this mighty earth
I stretch.

Prayers of mankind draw nigh me, like
lowing cattle coming home from the forest
in the evening.

Your Self as
Rama Swami.

ir

LETTERS TO MRS. PAULINE WHITMAN 243

( 2 )

OM

September 15, 1903.

Dearest "Good Boy” or Sweetst Baby
Kamala,

You are pure, faultless and Holy of holies.
No blame, no spot, no taint of worldliness,
no fear, no sin. Arn*t you such, darling ?

If you never mind, you might put into
verse the following thoughts. The attempt
to do so will keep you on blessed heights.

These are translated from a Persian poem
that Rama wrote this morning. You might
versify them while in Portland or Denver.
Just suit yourself.

You have every right to modify the ideas.

1. Rage wild and surge and storm, O
Ocean of Ecstasy, and level you down the
Earth and Heavens. Drown deep and shatter
and scatter all thought and care. O! what
have I to do with these ?

2. Come, let us drink deep and deeper
still, 6 dead drunk ! we weed out the sense
of division, pull down the walls of limited
existence, and set at large That Unveiled Bliss.

244 W WOODS OF GOD-REALIZATION

3. Come, madness Divine, quick, look
sharp, alack the delay! My mind is weary of
the flesh, O ! let the mind sink, sink in Thee;
spare it prompt, from the consuming oven.

4. Set on fire the meum et tuum (mine and
thine); cast to the four winds all fear and hope;
eliminate differentiation; let the head be not
distinguished from the foot.

5. Give me no bread, give me no water,
and give me no shelter or rest, Love’s precious
parching Thirst! O Thou alone art enough to
atone the decay of millions of frames like this.

The western sky doth seem to glow ?

So beautifully bright;

It is the Sun that makes it so ?

Surely it is thy light.

Your own Self,
Rama.

(3)

Kishangadh House,
PusHKAR, (Ajmer Distret)
February 22, 1905.
Most Blessed Dear Divinity,

What a splendid weather where Rama is.

LETTERS TO MRS. PAULINE WHITMAN 245

Every day a New Year day and every night a
Christmas night. The blue heavens are my
cup and the sparkling light my wine.

1 am the light air in the hills, 1 pass and
pass and pass. From the hills I creep down
into the towns and cities—fresh and pervading
' through all the streets I pass.

Him I touch and her I touch and you I
touch—such is my playful amusement.

I am the Light, lovingly I feed my child¬
ren—the flowers and plants. I live in the eyes
and hearts of the beautiful and the strong.

Stay with Me, then I pray ;

Dwell with Me through the day

And through the night, and where it is neither

night nor day,

Dwell quietly, Pass, pass not anymore.

Thou canst not pass.

I too am where thou art;

1 hold thee fast;

Not by the yellow sands nor the blue deep.

But in my heart, thy heart of hearts.

By living in the Light of light the way
opens up of itself. The accurate working of
details takes place spontaneously (like the

246 WOODS OF god-realization

opening up of the closed petals of a rose-bud )
when the genial light of Devotion and divine

Wisdom shines free.

It is hoped you received the January
issue of the Thundering Dawn from Puran,
Sutarmandi, Lahore.

Your own Self,
SwAMi Rama Truth.
la the January issue, your poems have been
published under the name Kamala Nanda which
is a full Swami name.

When you. send any fresh contributions,
they will appear under the name -Om’ If you

you like. ^ , j

' vLove, Blessings, Joy,, Peace to dear blessed

Giria and all.

OM ! OM 1! CM 11!

STARS

From the intense, clear, star-sown vault of

heaven,

Over the lit sea’s unquiet way,

In the resulting nigbl-air came the voice,
“Wouldst thou be as they are t Live as they,
UnafFrigbted by the sUence round them,

LETTERS TO MRS. PAULINE WITHMAN 247

Undistracted by the sights they see.

These demand not that the things without them
Yield them love, amusement, sympathy.

And with joy the stars perform their shining,
And the sea its long moon-silvered roll;

For self-poised they live, nor pine with nothing,
All the fever of some differing soul.

Bounded by themselves and unregardful
In what state God’s other work may be
In their own tasks, all their powers pouring
These attain the mighty life you see.”

(4)

PUSHKAR

District Ajmer, India.

Joy ! Joy ! Joy I

Peace I Blessings ! Love ! Joy !

Dearest Most Blessed Self,

On the bank of a calm, clear and deep, deep
lake Rama lives. A long, even-sized, continu¬
ous hill lies stretched on one side, wearing a
beautiful green shawl all over. Mango-groves
abound here. There are two little flower-
gardens in the house where Rama lives. Flights
of gorgeous peacocks keep screaming from

/

248 IN WOODS OF GOD-REALIZATION

their metaUic throats. Ducks are pkyfully
swimniiDg and diving in the lake, Naiayana
Swami (the beautifuj young man of whom
Rama may have spoken to you ) is here help¬
ing Rama in copying his writings, etc.

This lake is called the Earth’s eye. The
wooded hills and cliffs are its overhanging
brows. It is a mirror which no stone can
crack, whose quicksilver will never wear off,
a mirror in which all impurity presented to
it sinks, swept and dusted by the Sun’s hazy
brush—this the light dust-cloth.

This lake is one of the highest characters
Rama has met; how well it preserves purity I
It has not acquired one wrinkle after all its
ripples. It is perennially young.

Let such be our hearts.

OM 1 OM !!

Id summer Rama moves up to the cool
Himalayas.

The wastern sky doth fcem to glow

So beautiful bright ;

Is it the sun that makes is so ?

Surely it is thy light.

LETTERS TO MRS. PAULINE WHIl^UN 249
Here do—

Birds hang and swinj?, green-robed and redi
Or droop in curved Jines dreamily,
i7ainbows reversed from tree to tree ;

Or slug low hanging overhead,

Sing soft as if they sing and sleep,

Sing low like some distant waterfall,

And take no note of us at all.

The Thundering Dawn is re-started. Four
new numbers have already been out. The
January issue is almost entirely from Rama*s
pen. Some of Kamala’s poems have also been
given under the name of Kamalananda.

No letter from Kamala is received in India.
Peace, Blessings, Love from

Your own Self.

SwAMi Rama.

To Dear Litele Om, Joy, Joy, Joy.
and Love to Girja.

You must be ready at the right time to
come to Rama. Rama will write when the
time comes. OM ! OM !!

Rama.

250 IN WOODS OF GOD-RRALIZATION

(5)

OM !

Joy ! . Blessings ! Teace ! Love !

Darjeeling,
August, 30. 1905.

Most Blessed Dearest One,

For three months Rama was on the sum¬
mit of a mountain ( about 8,000 ft.) opposite
the world’s highest mountain, v/r., Mt. Everest.
Day after to-morrow he will go down to the
plains. Five books have been written here
and twenty books read.

Rama’s mind is brimful of Joy and peace.
The world has, as it were, entirely vanished
from the mind.

God) God alone
Everywhere !

Within, wiihoat

Far and near I ...

O Joy ! . . . . ,

TbriJIing peace !

Undulating Bliss !

What a heaven ! »

Peace I Blessings ! Love I

Health spiritual, mental, and physical and

LETTKRS TO MRS. PAULINE WHITMAN 251

all that is gjod. Girja, Om, Champa and others
dear to you.

Peace Immortal falls as rain drops.

Nectar is dropping in musical rain.

Drizzle ! Drizzle !! Drizzle 111
My clouds of glory, they march so gaily I
The worlds as diamonds drop from them.

Drizzle ! Drizzle 1! Drizzle !!*!
My breezes of Law blow rhythmical rhythmicfiT
Lo I Nations fall like petals, leave

Drizzle ! Drizzle !! Drizzle !!!
My balmy breath, the breeze of Law,

Blows beautiful ! beautiful !

Some objects swing and sway lite twigs,

And others like the dewdrops fait.

Drizzle ! Drizz e !! Drizzle IH
My graceful light, sea of white !

An ocean of milk, it undulate .

It ripples softly, softly, softly ;

And then it beats out worlds of spray !

I shower forth the stars as spray 1

Drizzle ! Drizzle !! Drizzle !!!

Rama.

OM ! OM ! OM !

LETTERS FROM AMERICA

(0

Shasta Springs, California

August 10. 1903.

(Under the canopy of starlit heaven, in
a Natural garden on the bank of a Mountain
Stream.)

Dear Blessed Self,

Your letter along with some other mail
received just after coming back from a most
pleasant trip to the top of Mt. Shasta (14444 ft.
altitude).

Dear, thou shall absolutely do nothing

Set well thy house in order, open thy
doors, let them stand wide for all to enter—thy
treasures, let the poorest take of them then
come thou forth to where I wait for thee.

Pass out—free O Joy—free flow on ! swim
across in the Sea of Equality. =mfTT At one
jerk snap asunder, break off all lies and duties,
and stand glorious in Thy Godhead.

The people of Portland (Oregon) write Rama
in a long poem which partly runs as follows: -

LETTERS FROM AMERICA

252

“Dear little Lotus Flower,

Nestling in thy cozy bower,

Mid the leaves so cool and green
happy eyes alone Thou’rt seen.

Smilling, resting , cooing
The soft Zephyis gently wooing
Lifting up thy starlit eyes
To the heavenly blissful skies
Thou dost rest so gently on—

Silent, laughing, wonderous, calnn.

All the world’s to thee
Thyself; and nothing
More or less.

^ ^

The flowers smile and nod with glee;

Some, soon, thou wilt be here.

The clouds let down their dewy tears
To welconte these so dear !

Thy message lo ! the wind doth blow
Where does the sound come from ?

Above, below, behind, before
‘‘I come, I come, I come/’

No more letters to Rama. If Rama please,
he may drop a line or so. but letters addressed
to Rama will not reach him.

254

IN WOODS OF GOD-REALIZATION

Look within, search within, you will always
get the answers. Yourself is Rama.

Invitations come from all quarters.

IX, ^ ^ 11

tft ^ «IT g?TOT-

xm 5?RtT ^

I

Jira) IH ^{, ^ i

B f^fTr «Br %f

Hsl«traT?

fewl 7\xs\ (Manus¬

cripts) ^ strq B Btwnr I
ni <1$^ 1

5^, e?? q.WT Btm ^ BT& *

B?TT B§5T BT gt rfBg ll II

Business Page

1. 21 Pages were sent the other day. If *■
Babu Harlal be willing to publish that, well

and good, otherwise you may see it through
the Press with his consent.

2. You may correspond with Babu Ram
Narayana, c/o, Rai Chandoo Lal,

Deputy Collector and Magistrate. Agra,

LETtERS FROM AMERICA

255

in regard to ^'tl and other Urdu lectures
if they have printed any.

3. 8 PAges of English poetry are sent
herewith.

4 The ‘‘Appear* was handed to the Presi¬
dent of the (J nited States in a personal interview
by Rama. The whole matter is for the present
laid in the hands of a committee of San
Francisco-nobility.

5. The four lectures sent from San Francis¬
co were to be reprinted in India. You can
get any number of copies there. For further
particulars, write please to Babu Harlal.

6. OM ! OM 1 to Pandit Udai Chandra
and all. OM ! OM !! OM Ml

(2) . .

Portland, Ore.

To ’ ...

Mrs. E. C. Campbell.

Denver, Colorado.

When people set their heart on anything and
meet with obstacle, there do they get ruffled
and upset. The cause of agitation and distur¬
bance without exception is the tendency to

256 IN WOODS OF GOD-REALIZATION

resist the seeming Evil. Thus, don't you think
Christ had his head level when he said, “Resist
not Evil”? Keep yourself calm, perfectly
happy, and receive with good cheer whatever
appears to be opposing the current of your
desire. When we don’t lose our balance and
remain centred in Self, Rama has always seen
through personal experience that the seem¬
ing evil turnns igto good. Don’t you remem¬
ber how those Re. 10 were sent to a Hindu
student after a seeming evil ? But by. distm-
per and disquietude we shut out upon ourselves
the gate of all the blessings, noble thoughts
and happy pieces of fortune that -might be
awaiting us. Overcome all evil and difficulties
by a mind carrying the body and worldly life
on the palm of its hand, in other words, by
giving a mind full of love than which there is
no higher force. Om 1

Your own dear Self as

Rama Swamj.

LfiTTERS FROM AMERICA

257

(3)

Portland, Ore.

To

Mrs. E. C. Campbell,

Denver, Colorado.
You ARE CONSTANTLY REMEMBERED BY RaMA.

OM ! OM n

You are so sincere, pure, noble, earnest,
faithful and very good ! Are you not ?

1. To compare or contrast one person
with another in the mind.

2. To compare oneself with any body
else mentally.

3. To compare the present with the past and

brood over the memory of past mistakes.

4. To dwell upon future plans and fear
anything.

5. To set our heart on anything but the
one Supreme Reality.

6. To depend on outward appearances and
not to practically believe in the inner
Harmony that rules over everything.

7. To jump up to the conclusions from
the words, or seeming conduct of people,

258 IN WOODS OF GOD-REALIZATION

and not to rest thoroughly satisfied
with faith in the Spiritual Law.

8. To be led astray too far in conversation
with the people.

It is this that breeds discontent in people's
mind. Therefore shun these eight sources of
trouble. Om !

Your own noble Self as
Rama Swami.

‘ LETTERS FROM INDIAN PLAINS

KISHANGARH HoUSE,
PUSHKAR, AJMERB.

(For the Thundering Dawn or for immediate
publication elsewhere)

( 1 ) ,

Who am I ? .' V

Most Blessed Dear Self,

Take up a mirror and see Me ’ reflected in
it Enter into inner solitude and feel Me as
the Power of Silence. Look up. at the Sun and
behold my likeness. “Verily know Me, this
is the highest'gain for man.^ Knpw Me.
Whoever knows Me, by no deed soever is his
future bliss marred, never will depart Woom

from the face of one who knows. Me.” .

N ' , -r-^Uphishad)

Blessed art thou, whosoever, from whose
eyes the scales are dropped to see. Me ! Blessed
is the place where thon walkest, for it must be
turned into paradise by your Rama glances.
Everywhere my home is. i , . ;■

260 IN WOODS OF GOD-REALIZATION

Beating in thy breast, seeing in thy
eyes, throbbing in thy pulse, smiling in the
flowers, laughing in the lightning, roaring
in the rivers, and silent in the mountains
is Rama. Fling aside Brahmanhood, burn
up Swamiship, throw overboard the alienat¬
ing titles and honours. Rama is one with
you, darling. Whoever you be, learned or
ignorant, rich or poor, man or woman,
saint or sinner, Chmt or Judas, Krishna or
Gopi, Rama is your own Self, I am deter¬
mined to thunder out in your bosom ray
Godhead, your Godhead, and proclaim it
through every deed and moment.

Germany, England, America, India and
all, I must shake them to freedom. I am
tired of the old game. Dream-walker! dost
thou hear the Himalayan Peal ? Dost thou
feci thp Thundering Dawn? Freedom! Freedom!

No flimsy phantom this. So wills Rama,
your Self of self, and Rama’s order absolute.

Freedom! Freedom!!

Not to produce millions of followers like
Buddha, Mohammed. Christ and other Pro¬
phets or Incarnations, but to produce, evoke

LFnERS >ROM INDIAN PSAIN 261

or express Rama himself in every man, woman
and child is Rama’s mission. Trample over
this body, eat up this personality, grind, digest
and assimilate me, then alone you do justice
to Rama.

OM ! OM II OM III

0.^ ^ sqnti vm I a*T ^ ^ ^.1

? TO ^ 1 ^ i

^ 3TT ?BT ^ % I

m il'djp felRTI infe'-fi % W 'T?T I I
^ ^ TOT5 ^Ft ^ ^ I

Resolve to be thyself and know that he
who finds himself loses his misery.

( 2 )

Advocate Office,
Lucknow.

The Steamer for Japan leaves Calcutta on
about August 20th, 1902.

It is not known when Rama returns to
India. Even the landing place will not be
foretold.

Ever with you, ^

Rama.

262 IN WOODS OF GOD-REALIZATION

Muzaffarnagar.

October 18, 1905.

Sweetheart, Great Heart

Ashes smeared to the hands wash clean
the skin.

So. thrice blessed are physical ailments,
when they rub away along with themselves
the skin-consciousness,

O welcome illness and pain !

So Jong as a dead carcase is left in the
house, there is every danger of all kinds of
pest; when the corpse is removed, health reigns
supreme. Just so, as long as body-conscious¬
ness is cherishtd, we invite every malady in the
world. Burn, away the body and its bearings,
and immediately we enjoy unrivalled Sovereignty.

Hurrah ! Hurrah 1

No jealousy, no fear; . ...

I'm the dearest of the dear. X

No sip, no sorrow ;

No pa.',t, no morrow, ‘ ,

The learned Mahatmas with hair splitting
heads and prominent bellies.

The spectacled Professors astonishing the

letters from indun plain 262

innocent students in the laboratory or the
observatory.

The bare-headed orators striking dumb
their audiences from their pulpits or platform.

Even the poor rich full of of complaints of
one kind or another—

All these I am.

The heavens and stars,

Worlds, near and far,

Are hung and strung
On the tunes I sung ;

No rival, no foe !

No injury, no woe !

No, nothing could harm me,

'No, nothing alarm me
The soul of al),

The nectar-fall,

The Sweetest Self,

Yea ! health itself-
The prattling streams,

The happiest dreams,

All myrrh and balm,

Kawan and Rama,

So pure, so calm,

Am I, am I,

Rama.

WANTED

Reformers

Not of others but of themselves^

Who have won

Not University distinctions,

But victory over the local self;

Age: the youth of divine joy ;

Salary: Godhead.

Apply sharp

With no begging solicitations
but commanding decision to
the Director of the Universe,

Your Own Self.

OM! OM! OM ! OM

D.QA. 80.

CENTRAL ARCHAEOLOGICAL LIBRARY
NEW DELHI

Raina TirLha, SWAtll

In woods of God— KealizaLiorv

Borrower's Name I Date of Issue ] Date of Returo